Mercer analyst departs for QIC

Mercer Investment Consulting has lost another key team member with funds management group Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC) announcing today it has recruited senior analyst Greg Liddell to head up its global equities team.

The appointment follows the recent departure of Mercer’s national practice leader Christopher Andrews who left to join Macquarie last week.

Andrew’s departure triggered a management reshuffle at Mercer with executive director Tony Cole stepping in to fill Andrew’s shoes and former national practice leader David Anderson replacing Cole.

The departure of Andrew’s and Liddell represent a reversal of fortunes for the Melbourne based operation, which in the last 12 months has been busy appointing an impressive list of experienced analysts including former van Eyk head of quantitative research Sidney Chong and fellow ex van Eyk staffers Dragana Timitojevic and Rashmi Mehrotra.

Mercer’s recruitment drive has been coupled with a series of internal promotions, most notably the promotion earlier in the month of former head of superannuation administration and trusts services Peter Promnitz to the position of chief executive. Promnitz replaced Simon O’Regan who was promoted to head up the company’s UK operations.

Meanwhile at QIC, general manager of global equities John Gethin-Jones said Liddell, who was a senior member of the investment team at Mercer for nine years, was recruited to add to the experience of the QIC international equities team.

“Greg is a highly regarded asset consultant and we are very pleased that he will be joining the QIC team,” Gethin-Jones said.

“QIC is highly regarded for the quality of its people and we are delighted that the strength of our management group will be further enhanced by Greg’s appointment.”

QIC is one of Australia’s largest wholesale funds managers with approximately $35 billion under management.