Zenith research head jumps to boutique fund manager
Zenith Investment Partners’ research head Bronwen Moncrieff has joined Blackwattle Investment Partners.
Moncrieff will join the firm’s Investment Council which provides guidance and critical thought to enhance the firm’s investment decision-making and improve portfolio investment performance.
She has worked at Zenith Investment Partners for 13 years until this August in roles including general manager, head of research and senior investment analyst. As head of research, she managed 20 analysts covering research and ratings for Australian investment funds.
In her place, Zenith has appointed head of responsible investment and sustainability Dugald Higgins as acting group head of research, and is recruiting for a permanent replacement.
Prior to this, she was a senior analyst at Future Fund and at rival research house Lonsec.
The business said her appointment “marks a significant step forward” for the firm and its Investment Council, which was set up in 2023.
Michael Skinner, managing director and chief investment officer at Blackwattle, said: “We are thrilled to welcome Bronwen to our Investment Council. Her vast experience, research ability and analytical skill will be invaluable as we drive to deliver outstanding results for our clients.”
It currently runs six funds: Small Cap Quality, Small Cap Long-Short Quality, Mid Cap Quality, Long Short 130/30 Quality, Large Cap Quality and Global Quality, and has $130 million in assets under management.
The Small Cap Long-Short Quality Fund was previously managed by Watermark as the Watermark Absolute Return equities fund and was taken over and rebranded by Blackwattle in October 2023, when Watermark founder Justin Braitling opted to retire.
Since its launch, Blackwattle has secured a number of high-profile managers and their teams, including global equities manager Sunny Bangia from Antipodes, Tim Riordan and Michael Teran from Aware Super, and Ray David and Joe Koh from Schroders.
Executive leadership includes chief executive Jarred Rubin, formerly with Citi Institutional Equity Sales; executive director Matthew Dell, previously with Pinnacle; and head of distribution Maggie Mills, former head of investment sales at Zurich.
Appearing on Money Management’s Relative Return podcast earlier this year, Skinner said any hires made by the firm have to exhibit drive and intellectual curiosity.
“We did a lot of market research on funds and where we thought there was investor demand for the product, we looked at industry surveys on fund manager performance and sought out those teams with top-quartile performance over a long period of time. From a culture point of view, we hold an individual’s or a team’s character equal to the investment capability.
“They have to be driven and willing to invest their own capital alongside our clients, and they have to exhibit drive, intellectual curiosity and, most importantly for us, integrity and humility.”
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