Significant mandate awarded to IFM Investors Active Equities team

A substantial mandate has been awarded by superannuation fund Mine Wealth + Wellbeing to the Active Equities team at IFM Investors.

This is the inaugural mandate for the firm’s Australian Core Equities strategy.

IFM Investors expanded its Active Equities team in 2016 with the recruitment of nine Large Cap investment professionals (eight in Sydney, one in Hong Kong). Neil Carter, Head of Active Equities, was joined by Lachlan Davis as Head of Large Cap Active Equities and Mark McClatchey as Head of Research.

The new team members have extensive experience in quantitative and fundamental investment management in Australia and Asia.

At IFM Investors, the team has established three key products – Australian Core Equities, Australian Equities Extended Alpha and the Asia-Pacific Market Neutral Fund. Australian Core Equities has beaten the ASX200 by 2.7% since inception on 10 May 2016, while Extended Alpha has added 2.3% over the ASX200 since inception on 28 July 2016. The Asia-Pacific Market Neutral Fund was launched in late August and is expected to be fully operational by 1 October 2016.

Commenting on the mandate, Neil Carter said the new products significantly increased the IFM Investors offering.

“The team uses a ‘Smart Quant’ investment approach, which combines the power and breadth of a quantitative approach with the judgment and skills of fundamental analysis, and the team has proven itself over the past 15 years in the Australian market. 

Lachlan Davis said that the team will work hard to build on its strong start and continue to deliver quality alpha to investors.

“We have engaged with investors and asset consultants and have been encouraged by the interest in all three products. Investors have been attracted to our consistent returns, differentiated style and lower correlation with peers. We have a limited amount of foundation capacity that we expect to be taken down quickly.”