Standard & Poor’s Fund Services has placed its ratings on all AMP Capital property, and listed infrastructure funds, ‘On Hold’. This follows AMP Capital’s announcement today that it will be ending its joint venture with Brookfield Investment Management, AMP Capital Brookfield (AMPCB).
AMP Capital will bring the management of its listed property and listed infrastructure capabilities in-house. This has significant implications for both the AMPCB listed property and listed infrastructure teams. While the listed property personnel based in Sydney, Hong Kong, and London will remain with AMP Capital, new investment personnel have been hired to cover the Americas region and will be commencing imminently. Further, a new head of global listed real estate, Matthew Hoult, has been appointed.
The extent of change within the listed infrastructure business is equally as significant. The five-person team will comprise just three former AMPCB personnel, including the newly promoted head of global listed infrastructure, Tim Humphreys. The four Chicago-based investment staff will not remain with AMP Capital, nor will Sydney-based senior investment analyst Sarah Shaw. Two new analyst appointments have been made to AMP Capital’s London office.
“This is a significant development—one which affects a number of AMP Capital-distributed and AMPCB-managed funds. And so, we have placed our ratings on these funds ‘On Hold’. We will meet with AMP Capital shortly, and will seek to resolve the ‘On Hold’ ratings,” said S&P Fund Services analyst Nathan Bode.
The AMP Core Property Fund rating has also been placed ‘On Hold’ following these changes, due to its investment of about 25% of funds under management in the global listed property securities strategy.