Low bows out of Alliance Capital

Afterthree years atAXA’sAlliance Capital Management, the group’s director of Australian equities, Don Low, will retire in February.

Praising Low on his time at Alliance Capital, chief executive Michael Bargholz says: “Don’s contribution to our business has been first class, he has led one of the local markets true to label growth investment services.”

Andrew McAuley, previously the portfolio manager of Alliance’s Australian equities Industrial Fund, has been appointed as Low’s replacement.

McAuley will continue to manage the Industrial Fund, as well as assuming responsibility for Low’s Australian equity portfolios until a new manager is recruited for the Industrial Fund.

“Andrew was the obvious choice…he is in every sense as familiar with our investment process as Don and is the ideal successor,” Bargholz says.

In response to the news of Low’s retirement, theLonsecresearch group has reinforced its ‘investment grade’ rating of Alliance Capital’s Australian equity large cap capabilities.

“[McAuley] has been intimately involved with the design and implementation of the research and portfolio construction processes at Alliance and as such, we expect minimal disruption to the management of the portfolios,” Lonsec says.

Low caused a stir atTower Asset Managementin 2000 when he and three of his team members, including McAuley, moved to Alliance. The departures left Tower’s Australian equities division at less than half its previous capacity, and resulted in a ‘hold’ rating being assigned to all Tower funds with exposure to Australian equities.