Pendal’s Blayney joins Evidentia Group
Former Pendal head of multi asset Michael Blayney has been appointed as a member of the investment committee at Evidentia Group.
With more than $12.8 billion in funds under management, Evidentia Group builds and manages portfolios for Australian private wealth businesses. The firm’s investment professionals and advice specialists are located across its Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth offices.
Evidentia announced on 20 January 2025 that Blayney will be joining the company as a member of the investment committee, commencing this week.
“With over 28 years of experience in investment management, consulting and superannuation with some of the world’s leading institutions, Michael is one of Australia’s most highly regarded investment professionals,” the firm stated.
Blayney previously spent seven years at Pendal Group as its head of multi-asset where he led innovative strategy development.
It was announced in March 2024 that following a review of Perpetual’s multi-asset capabilities, the asset manager decided to combine the Perpetual and Pendal multi-asset businesses to create one team, the Perpetual Multi-Asset Strategies team. This marked the departure of Blayney as the portfolio manager of these funds.
“We are bringing together the Perpetual and Pendal multi-asset teams as one enhanced team with greater scale and resources to support better client outcomes,” the firm said at the time.
“This team will be uniquely placed to build investment solutions to meet emerging client needs by accessing the combined intellectual property and experience of both the Perpetual and Pendal multi-asset teams.”
Prior to this, he was the head of investment strategy at Aware Super where he oversaw asset allocation and investment strategy across the fund’s $170 billion in assets.
Blayney also spent five years at Perpetual as the head of diversified strategies and a portfolio manager for diversified funds.
“Michael’s addition to the team is further demonstration of our commitment to continually bring the highest level of investment expertise to bear for our valued clients. Michael’s wealth of knowledge will strengthen our approach to delivering value-driven, forward-thinking investment solutions,” Evidentia added.
Four months ago, Evidentia announced the launch of the Evidentia Global Private Markets Fund in partnership with US-based institutional private markets investment consultant Wilshire.
The fund seeks to offer a single access point global multi-asset, multi-manager solution targeting investment opportunities that exploit inefficiencies in private markets.
AUTHOR
Jasmine Siljic
Recommended for you
With Q1 of the 2025 calendar year coming to a close, the Australian funds management industry has seen a range of major appointments and departures.
Nearly half of wealth managers across the globe say offering access to private market funds is integral to their growth plans, Natixis Investment Managers has uncovered.
Boutique fund manager and responsible investment specialist Pella Funds Management has expanded its offering by allowing direct access to investors in New Zealand for the first time.
The global alternative asset manager has welcomed an experienced distribution lead to its leadership team.
