Challenger’s loss is MFS’ gain
Steve Kyling’s departure after six years at Challenger Howard Mortgage Trust has seen Lonsec downgrade the product, while his new employers, MFS, have coincidentally had their mortgage trust recommended by the research house.
Challenger’s fund has been downgraded from ‘highly recommended’ to ‘recommended’, with Lonsec analyst Anthony Pesutto blaming the manager’s failure to replace Kyling with a dedicated and experienced mortgage manager.
Instead, Brian Benari will now run the fund among a number of other responsibilities in Challenger’s $17 billion finance business.
“Lonsec notes [Benari] has not previously managed a mortgage fund…in contrast, Lonsec’s most highly-rated mortgage managers (Perpetual, Australian Unity and Colonial First State) have full-time portfolio managers with an average 26 years of lending and portfolio management experience”.
Kyling will now run MFS’ flagship Premium Income Fund, which coincidentally received an initial ‘recommended’ rating from Lonsec on the same day as Challenger’s mark-down.
Pesutto, who said Kyling’s move had nothing to do with the MFS rating, added the Premium Income Fund, which launched in late 2000, was held back from the highest rating because it was yet to experience a full property cycle and had only last year began accepting dealer group inflows.
Recommended for you
ASIC has released the results of its first adviser exam to be held in 2025 with 241 candidates attempting the test.
Quarterly Wealth Data analysis has uncovered positive improvements in financial adviser numbers compared with losses in the prior corresponding period.
Holding portfolios that are too complex or personalised can be a detractor for acquirers of financial advice firms as they require too much effort to maintain post-acquisition.
As the financial advice profession continues to wait on further DBFO legislation, industry commentators have encouraged advisers to act now in driving practice efficiency.
