Matthew Davison
Franklin Templeton specialist investment manager Martin Currie Australia (MCA) has been selected to manage another Australian Equity mandate available on the CFS FirstChoice platform.
The selection of the MCA Active Insights strategy is further recognition of the strong relationship between Franklin Templeton, Martin Currie and Colonial First State, which sits alongside a number of Martin Currie strategies, and those of other Franklin Templeton specialist investment managers, on the CFS FirstChoice platform.
“We are pleased to be awarded this mandate for the MCA Active Insights Australia equity strategy and to have our expertise in managing Australian equity portfolios continually acknowledged. We believe this strategy, which seeks to provide consistent relative returns with reduced risk over shorter time horizons, will provide beneficial diversification for users of the FirstChoice platform,” Franklin Templeton managing director Australia Felicity Walsh, said.
The MCA Active Insights Australian equity strategy strives to tackle the problem that traditional active fundamental equity portfolios often have with a reliance on style or factor mean reversion and which are often associated with higher tracking error.
“In the face of the growing weight of assets behind passive or index-sensitive strategies, not to mention the strict penalties for any fund failing regulatory performance tests, this strategy harmonises our fundamental insights with disciplined risk control,” Matt Davison, portfolio manager at Martin Currie Australia, said.
The MCA Active Insights strategy isolates the investment team’s ‘pure’ fundamental insights, while also minimising style factor and sector risks relative to the S&P/ASX 200 Index.
“Importantly, the strategy’s portfolio construction approach allows my co-portfolio manager, Sam Li, and I, to tailor the risk exposures within our sleeve of a multi-manager portfolio to complement the existing exposures clients may have elsewhere in their portfolio,” Davidson said.
“We believe this solutions-based style, together with MCA’s ‘active ownership’ approach, which embeds ESG assessment into every part of the investment process, were both particularly important in securing the Colonial First State mandate. We look forward to this strategy being used as a core component of the platform’s Australian equity multi-manager portfolio,” Walsh added.