The Future Fund is making changes in its mammoth Australian equities portfolio and has shifted more than $1 billion from one of its local managers, sources told Street Talk.
The flow of funds is said to be buoying investment bank transition business and likewise broader ASX equities volumes. This column understands while the Future Fund is making revisions to its domestic manager make-up it is not reducing its overall exposure to Australian equities.
Henderson Global Investors (Australia), JCP Investment Partners, and Macquarie Investment Management are listed as the Future Fund's Australian equities managers on its web site. Sources pointed to JCP as the manager that may have lost some Future Fund money, but it is unclear where those funds are headed.
The Future Fund had almost $128 billion across several asset classes, including local and global equity, private equity, debt securities and property, as at December 31. It generated a return of 7.8 per cent for the 12 months ending December 31.
Similarly, AustralianSuper is said to be making some alterations to its portfolio.
Market sources said the funds giant was taking hundreds of million of dollars back in-house. The shifts are having ramifications for fund managers as direct investing by large industry and other funds becomes a greater threat in the local market.
AustralianSuper manages more than $100 billion in assets on behalf of more than 2.1 million members.
Several super funds are assessing hiring inhouse funds management teams to cut out external mandates.