Super Fund appoints small-cap equity managers

The Board of the Guardians of New Zealand Superannuation today announced the appointment of three small-cap equity managers – Thompson Siegel & Walmsley, Numeric Investors, and AXA Rosenberg Investment Management Asia Pacific. Under the Fund’s strategic asset allocation, 12% of total assets are earmarked for small-cap equities. According to New Zealand Superannuation Fund chief executive, Paul Costello, the appointment of these managers is a further step in diversifying the Fund’s global share portfolio. Thompson, Siegel & Walmsley (TSW) has been appointed to manage a US small-cap value mandate. The strategic allocation to US small-cap value managers is 3% of the Fund, with TSW receiving an initial allocation of 2%. The chosen benchmark for the portfolio is the Russell 2000 Value Index. Headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, TSW uses a combination of active quantitative and qualitative methods to identify undervalued, high-quality stocks. The company has US$4.5 billion under management, of which US$0.26 billion is currently in US small-cap stocks. Numeric Investors (Numeric) will manage a US small-cap growth mandate. The strategic allocation to US small-cap growth managers is also 3% of the Fund, with Numeric receiving an initial allocation of 2%. Numeric will be benchmarked against the Russell 2500 Growth Index. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Numeric applies an active quantitative approach to selecting stocks. Numeric has some US$7.9 billion under management, of which US$0.8 billion is currently in US small-cap growth stocks. AXA Rosenberg Investment Management Asia Pacific (AXA Rosenberg) has been appointed to manage a non-US small-cap mandate on behalf of the Fund. The strategic allocation to non-US small-cap growth managers is 6% of the Fund, with AXA Rosenberg receiving an initial allocation of 3%. The portfolio will be benchmarked against the S&P Citigroup EMI ex-US Index. AXA Rosenberg, which manages its small-cap strategies regionally in California, London, Tokyo and Singapore, has US$40 billion under management, of which US$3.2 billion is in non-US small-cap equities. The appointment of TSW, Numeric and AXA Rosenberg brings the total number of external investment managers to 12. The appointments of a number of other small-cap equity managers will be announced shortly.