Standard & Poor’s Fund Services has today assigned its four-star rating to the AMP Capital Global Property Securities Fund. On October 2, 2011 we placed the fund ‘On Hold’ following notification that Brett Ward, the global portfolio manager for Europe would be leaving the organisation. Before the fund was ‘On Hold’ it was rated five stars.
AMP Capital Brookfield is committed to a centralised portfolio-management model in Chicago and at this time has opted not to fill Mr. Ward’s role. Instead, his portfolio and team management responsibilities will be shared between global portfolio managers Jason Baine and Bernhard Krieg. Both are experienced investors in European markets and the strategy is operated under a collegial decision-making approach ensuring familiarity across regions.
“We view Brett Ward’s departure as significant since he was a long-serving and key member of the business. He’s an experienced global investor and provided important cultural leadership for the broader team. He established the European research team and made an important contribution toward integrating the global research capability,” said S&P Fund Services analyst Kelly Napier.
Despite Mr Ward’s departure, the investment team is still one of the largest and most impressive in the rated peer group and the global property capability is a high quality offering with an established track record. The strategy benefits from a centrally coordinated top-down and regionally implemented bottom-up investment process and a strong and experienced team.
