Milford today advised clients of some planned developments regarding Milford’s investment team, including the management of the funds.
In a communication to clients Brian Gaynor noted “Milford has developed significant breadth, depth and expertise over the past 14 years, as we have broadened our fund offerings and investor base. Consequently, we now have a high performing investment team with considerable overseas experience”.
The Milford investment style is based on a team approach with economic conditions, industry trends and specific investments discussed by team members at five meetings each week. Individual investment decisions are made by Portfolio Managers with the assistance of Co-Managers. This collective approach towards assessing economic, industry and company matters, combined with Portfolio Manager accountability, is an important part of Milford’s success.
The Milford investment team has grown to 18 investment professionals, including six in the Sydney office, managing a breadth of underlying funds. As a result Brian has increased his focus on investment leadership; managing and coaching the investment team and maintaining oversight of Milford products.
On 1 April, Brian will hand over his Portfolio Manager duties and focus on his role as Head of Investments. He will continue to be responsible for the ongoing development of the Milford investment team and will maintain oversight of all of Milford’s funds.
Brian goes on to note: “I believe that this carefully developed succession plan will sustain and improve the performance of your funds and is in the best interest of clients. My oversight, as well as our Portfolio Manager and Co-Manager structure, will continue to provide depth of expertise in our fund management capabilities.”
Troy Swann, Milford’s CEO, commented on the planned developments “We are looking forward to 2017 and beyond, confident we have the right people in place to ensure we continue to provide first class investment outcomes for our clients.”
The following Portfolio Manager movements will occur on 1 April 2017;
Active Growth Fund
The Active Growth funds (Unit Trust and KiwiSaver) will be managed by Jonathan Windust with William Curtayne as Co-Manager. Jonathan has an excellent proven track record as Portfolio Manager of our extremely successful Diversified Income Fund since 2010 and Milford’s Balanced funds (Unit Trust and KiwiSaver). Prior to that, Jonathan was Portfolio Manager of the Peak Fund (now Trans – Tasman Fund). For over five years William has managed an important component of the Active Growth Fund through the Fund’s exposure to the Dynamic Fund.
Diversified Income Fund
Jonathan Windust will continue his involvement in the Diversified Income Fund as Co-Manager while David Lewis will become Lead Portfolio Manager. David, who has extensive global experience, has been the Co-Manager of the Diversified Income Fund for the past 12 months and has been responsible for managing a portion of the Fund for the last three years. He has also been the successful Portfolio Manager of our Trans-Tasman Bond Wholesale Fund since 2013 and the Conservative funds (Unit Trust and KiwiSaver) since 2015.
New Zealand Equities and Trans-Tasman Fund
Sam Trethewey has made a significant contribution as Co-Manager of the NZ Equities Wholesale Fund and the Trans-Tasman Fund with Brian over the last two years. He will
become Portfolio Manager of the NZ Equities Wholesale Fund and Portfolio Manager of the Trans-Tasman Fund with Wayne Gentle, who is the current Portfolio Manager of the Australian equities portion of the Fund. Wayne joined Milford in 2016, bringing substantial pedigree from his previous role as Deputy Head of Australian equities at Colonial First State.
Balanced Fund
Mark Riggall will become Portfolio Manager responsible for the asset allocation of the Balanced funds (Unit Trust and KiwiSaver) and Paul Morris will be his Co-Manager. Mark Riggall, who is also Milford’s Senior Dealer has extensive offshore experience in equity derivatives including running multiple regional Asian/UK based derivative portfolios and a global equity derivatives portfolio.
Paul Morris has been the Co-Manager of our Conservative funds (Unit Trust and KiwiSaver) and the Trans-Tasman Bond Wholesale Fund since joining Milford early last year. Paul has over 20 years experience in fixed income markets, both overseas and in New Zealand.
Conservative Fund
Paul Morris will become Portfolio Manager of the Conservative funds (Unit Trust and KiwiSaver) and Mark Riggall will be his Co-Manager.
There will be no changes to the oversight of the Milford investment team and Brian will continue to be a full time executive, Head of Investments and Chair of the new Private Equity Investment Committee. Jonathan Windust and David Lewis will remain joint Deputy Heads of Investments.
To view the current and upcoming Portfolio Manager responsibilities please click here