Senior NZ Superannuation Fund (NZS) investment specialists David Iverson and Sam Porath will both switch codes next year in new positions for the ACC.
It is understood that Iverson, currently NZS head of asset allocation, will lead a new portfolio ‘tilting’ program at the almost $47 billion ACC fund, recreating what has been a successful strategy at his current employer.
Strategic tilting – also known as dynamic asset allocation – has added about 1 per cent each year to NZS returns since the fund introduced the approach in 2009, according to the 2020 annual report.
Iverson ends his 11-year stint at NZS in January along with Porath, currently NZ equities manager, who has worked at the now $51 billion sovereign wealth fund for eight years.
Porath has managed the in-house NZS local shares holdings (about $1.1 billion) since February 2019 but prior to that he was a portfolio manager on the strategic tilting team
“We thank David and Sam for their contributions to the Guardians, and look forward to remaining in contact with them in their new positions,” the NZS says in a release.
Last week the fund also reported the exit of another investment veteran as timber and rural portfolio manager, Neil Woods, took on the CEO role at the Gisborne-based Aratu Forests. Woods has managed the timber portfolio (now almost 30 per cent of the NZS’ domestic asset exposure) for about 12 years.
Along with the three senior departures, the NZS also appointed Toby Selman as real estate senior adviser last month. Selman was previously chief operating officer of European logistics real estate investment firm, Delin Property.
The NZS is likely to increase its exposure to real assets, including property, over the coming years after confirming a slew of recent buys.
As well as purchasing four vineyards from the Marlborough-based Yealands Wine Group last week, the fund added a fourth hotel – the Sofitel Queenstown – to its portfolio managed alongside the Russell Property Group.
In another joint venture early in December, the NZS teamed up with Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board to take equal shares in the NZ pathology business, the Asia Pacific Healthcare Group (APHG). The two funds, which have cooperated on previous deals, bought the pathology business, valued at about $550 million, from Australian private healthcare provider Healthscope.
“The purchase adds to NZ Super Fund’s NZD7.2 billion portfolio of New Zealand investments and provides further exposure to the local healthcare sector, an industry with a favourable long-term growth outlook,” an NZS release says.