AustralianSuper is pleased to announce the appointment of Innes McKeand to the Fund’s newly created role of Head of Equities.
In this role, Mr. McKeand will be responsible for the development and implementation of a comprehensive strategy for the construction and management of AustralianSuper’s equities portfolio, which consists of both Australian and international equities across developed and emerging markets.
He will report to AustralianSuper’s Chief Investment Officer, Mark Delaney. Mr. Delaney said the appointment of Mr. McKeand is part of AustralianSuper’s long-running strategy to build world-class, in-house investment capabilities.
“AustralianSuper is a major investor in equities with over $24 billion in our portfolio. Innes’ role will be instrumental not only in growing our equities investments, but also in extracting more value from the portfolio to continue to maximise our members’ returns,” said Mr. Delaney.
“Over the last few years we have focused on growing our in-house investment expertise and now have over 30 investment professionals on the team. Our in-house investment expertise ensures AustralianSuper is in a position to continue to provide strong long-term investment returns to our members.”
AustralianSuper has returned an average of 6.13 per cent per year, 1.2 per cent above the median fund return, over the ten years to June 2011. This performance places AustralianSuper in the top quartile of performers ten out of thirteen times since 1998, more often than any other fund*.
Mr. McKeand joins AustralianSuper from Aegon Asset Management in the UK, where he was Head of Equities. Prior to this, he was Chief Investment Officer at AIB Investment Managers. Before joining AIB, he was Head of Investment at the Nestlé UK Pension trust and spent 14 years with ScottishLife Assurance Company as Chief Investment Officer.
Mr. McKeand commences his role as Head of Equities at AustralianSuper on 12 September.
