QIC to send Challenger global at last
By Michael Bailey
ChallengerFinancial Services will finally offer an international equities fund to the retail market, following the formation of a manager selection and portfolio construction alliance with QIC last week.
Challenger’s two existing manager research staff, Caroline Saunders and Kathy Cave, will depart the firm as a result of the alliance with QIC, whose roots are in Queensland public sector asset management.
QIC’s first task will be to build Challenger an international equities multi-manager fund. It is unknown at this stage how similar it will be to QIC’s existing product, which houses 10 underlying managers and aims to beat the MSCI World index by 1.5 per cent per annum on a rolling three-year basis.
The contract with Challenger represents QIC’s second venture into the retail market. It already co-owns financial planning group QInvest, and supplies multi-manager funds to the members of the group’s other owner, QSuper.
Challenger’s head of wealth management Chris Cuffe said demand for its Australian boutique multi-manager fund, launched last year with the research backing of van Eyk, had convinced him of the viability of multi-manager products.
Van Eyk will continue to work with Challenger on the boutique fund and other projects, having just signed a three-year contract with the Kerry Packer-owned group.
Stephen van Eyk was sent on an international manager research trip more than two years ago by Challenger, but no product has been forthcoming until now.
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