Mr McKibbin will be responsible for further developing channel opportunities across SG Hiscock & Company’s Australian and global equities and property securities, and its Partnership Program with Morgan Stanley Investment Management, EAM Investors, abrdn Investments and LaSalle Investment Management Securities.

Prior to joining SG Hiscock & Company, Mr McKibbin worked at American Century Investments for over five years, most recently as the head of wholesale, Australia. He joined American Century from State Street Global Advisors where he was head of ETF Managed Portfolio Solutions for the US SPDR ETF Business. He has also worked at State Street Global Advisors and AllianceBernstein in New York.  He started his career in Australia in 2001, working at ING Australia and Colonial First State.

Mr Cochran says Mr McKibbin’s global experience working across various asset classes makes him a great fit for this role, as the business continues to grow and expand its offerings to clients across Australia.

“Alastair has been working in the industry for over 20 years both in Australia and the US. He has extensive knowledge and experience in funds management, working in business development and working with a wide network of existing relationships with key researchers and consultants.

“He will be a valuable addition to our distribution team and we look forward to broadening the reach of SG Hiscock and its partners’ offerings to Australian investors,” says Mr Cochran.

It follows the appointment of Jason Smit to the role of business development manager in December 2024.

Mr McKibbin holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Sydney, and is both a CFA charter holder and CAIA charter holder.

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Joining the SGH distribution team, Mr Smit will be working with current and prospective clients, strengthening and expanding the firms’ relationships amongst wholesale and retail investment channels as well dealer groups and financial adviser networks in Victoria, Western Australia and South Australia.

Mr Smit’s career spans over 15 years in the global financial sector. He joins SG Hiscock most recently from Alexander Funds where he held the position of regional manager. Prior to that he was part of the institutional and wealth global client group at Dimensional Fund Advisors and was a wealth management consultant at Macquarie Group.

SG Hiscock’s head of distribution, Anthony Cochran, says the appointment of Mr Smit is a welcome addition to the distribution team as the firm continues to strengthen its client base and bring high calibre funds to the Australian market and its investors.

“Jason has a proven track record of successfully managing clients in the private wealth, institutional and retail sectors, providing a high level of client service, and has a thorough understanding of fixed income, equities and specialist investments.

“His strong background in wealth management and business development, makes him a great fit for this role and we look forward to joining us, and contributing to expanding our business footprint nationally,” says Mr Cochran.

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Travis Prentice

The EAM Global Small Companies Fund has been added to the HUB24 platform from 1 July, giving investors greater access to opportunities in global small cap companies. It is the fourth platform that the fund has been listed on since it was launched in Australia late last year, following Praemium, Powerwrap and Mason Stevens. The fund is managed in partnership with EAM Global Investors (EAM) and distributed exclusively in Australia by SG Hiscock & Company (SGH).

“We are seeing growing interest in global small caps, as this part of the market continues to perform well.  It offers investors good diversification from the large cap sector, which has been dominated by a handful of companies and carries increasing levels of risk” said Anthony Cochran, head of distribution at SGH.

“EAM Global Investors has a proven track record of delivering strong risk adjusted outcomes for investors,” Mr Cochran said.

The EAM Global Small Companies Fund seeks to deliver consistent alpha using EAM’s Informed Momentum® approach to investing in global small cap companies. EAM has utilised this same investment process across all its equity strategies since inception of the firm in 2007.

The fund aims to provide investors with capital appreciation by investing in stocks generally within the market cap range of the MSCI ACWI Small Cap Index (ex-Australia) across 22 Developed Markets countries and 25 Emerging Markets countries. The portfolio consists of 100-150 holdings, with an adaptable stock selection process designed to capture opportunities across geographies (excluding Australia), industries, and traditional styles.

Travis Prentice, portfolio manager of the EAM Global Small Company strategy and CIO of EAM, says the fund has benefited recently from its holdings in the US, Korea and India, with momentum exposure and stock selection proving key to performance.

So far in 2024, the strength of the market has predominantly come from a few key players in large cap. Small caps can offer differentiated exposures to offset the increasing concentration risks in many portfolios. Additionally, a supportive macro backdrop could mean relative outperformance on the horizon. Less uncertainty around interest rates, improving earnings growth and accelerating M&A should be tailwinds for small cap.

“We are seeing an amazing level of concentration in the larger end of the market, while there remains a diverse set of compelling opportunities in the small cap space for stock pickers like us,” Mr Prentice says.

The EAM Global Small Companies Fund has returned 13.59 per cent since inception in 2023 after fees compared to 6.81 per cent for its benchmark, the MSCI ACWI Small Cap Index (ex-Australia). In the first half of 2024, the fund gained 17.82 per cent net of fees, while its benchmark returned 4.56 per cent for the period.

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Serena Govender has been appointed as business development manager and is based in Melbourne. Ms Govender is responsible for building and maintaining relationships with financial advisers and key accounts for the abrdn suite of funds across Victoria/Western Australia/South Australia, Previously, she worked at The Market Herald in strategic business development, and as a business development associate for Wholesale Investor. Ms Govender holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Notre Dame Australia, and a Masters of Applied Finance from the University of Western Australia.

Brent Tuckerman has been appointed senior marketing manager, and brings more than 15 years’ experience in financial services. Prior to SGH, Mr Tuckerman was a marketing manager at Aware Super, and has held various marketing positions for CSF, Anne Street Partners Financial Services and Allianz UK. Mr Tuckerman holds a Bachelor of Business (Marketing and Management) from Auckland University of Technology.

These appointments follow other recent hires for the Melbourne-based fund manager, including Denitsa Stoeva in the role of marketing manager, and Georgina Lymperis as senior product manager.

SGH head of distribution, Anthony Cochran, said the appointments reflect broader growth in the business.

“We are experiencing strong investor demand and want to continue to meet those demands through the expansion of our service offering to existing and prospective clients.

“In order to provide the highest level of client service, we recognise that we need a strong and competent team, and these appointments are designed to boost our distribution capabilities,” he said.

The appointments also follow the successful recent transition of abrdn employees into the SGH business structure. These include:

• Shawn Lee, portfolio manager
• Philip Li, assistant portfolio manager
• Igor Kolevski, senior business development manager
• Daniel Shelest, research and consultant relations manager
• Jessica Dalziell, senior client associate
• Jordan Burnt, client associate
• Arooj Younas, marketing and events manager.

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Travis Prentice

SG Hiscock & Company Limited (SGH) in partnership with US-based asset manager, EAM Global Investors LLC (EAM) has launched the EAM Global Small Companies Fund into the Australian market. The fund will be distributed by SGH and provides Australian investors access to global small companies.

The launch of the fund follows the recent partnership announcement between SGH and EAM Global Investors.

EAM’s chief executive, Travis Prentice, said the systematic investment approach used by the firm has gained traction in the US and he expects the Australian market will follow suit.

“We use our own proprietary approach called Informed Momentum®, whereby our investment team invests in companies with positive momentum, but we also add rationale and risk management overlays to deliver alpha for clients.”

The listed universe of global small companies represents around 11,000 stocks, equating to 88 per cent of all publicly listed companies. By number of constituents, the global small cap universe is seven times larger than its mid and large cap peers combined. Spanning both developed and emerging markets, this opportunity set provides strong opportunities for portfolio diversification.

Mr Prentice said the sheer size and dynamics of the small companies’ universe can make it difficult for an investor to research each and every stock. Systematic elements within the investment process – such as momentum signals – mean opportunities can be identified and capitalised on in a timely manner.

“Historical data over the last 30 years shows the cumulative performance of the momentum factor outperforms that of value, quality and growth factors over time.

“Additionally, over the same period, momentum wins on a risk-adjusted basis, suggesting that an investor with the added tailwind of momentum exposure may prove beneficial over time.

“We’re looking forward to offering Australian investors access to such a unique investment style through SGH,” Mr Prentice said.

The EAM Global Small Companies Fund in Australia holds between 100-150 companies and does not use pre-set sector or country weightings, allowing the portfolio manager to follow the momentum factor within the risk management parameters of the fund.

EAM Global Investors – which has AU$3.4 billion in funds under management – has been in the Australian institutional market for several years and partnering with SGH provides a greater level of exposure to the adviser market.

Head of distribution at SGH, Anthony Cochran, said the addition of a global small companies’ manager with such a distinct investment philosophy is already generating strong interest from local advisers.

“EAM is entering the market at a time when advisers are looking for innovative investment products that have a proven track record of delivering returns.

“Our initial discussions with advisory groups have been overwhelmingly positive, and we anticipate strong demand for the strategy in Australia.

“Providing exposure to the momentum factor means investors don’t have to pick between value or growth. EAM have a proven track record of delivering strong risk adjusted outcomes for clients,” Mr Cochran said.

The EAM Global Small Companies Fund has also been awarded a recommended rating by leading research house, Zenith Investment Partners.

The research report said: “Zenith believes EAM employs a differentiated investment approach and considers the investment team to be highly experienced. Overall, we believe EAM is well-positioned to deliver upon the Fund’s investment objectives.”

EAM Investors has joined several other global funds managers in the SGH Partnership Program, including Morgan Stanley Investment Management (Australia) Pty Ltd, LaSalle Investment Management Securities LLC. SGH and abrdn.

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Rebecca Collins

Melbourne-based asset manager SG Hiscock & Company has appointed Rebecca Collins to the newly created role of key account manager, effective today.

Ms Collins will be responsible for further developing channel opportunities across Australian equities and Australian property securities, as well as global equities and global property securities through SG Hiscock & Company’s Partnership Program with Morgan Stanley Investment Management and LaSalle Investment Management Securities. Ms Collins will report into head of distribution, Anthony Cochran.

Mr Cochran said the appointment reflects strong investor demand as well as the strategic need to broaden distribution lines, primarily through national dealer groups, model portfolio inclusion and managed accounts.

“Rebecca will be actively engaging with senior research, consulting and management personnel within our existing and prospective distributor network. The current trading environment gives rise to pursuing new distribution avenues, and Rebecca’s skills and experience will help the business achieve this objective.

“We believe the capacity to recruit staff of such calibre will provide our team with a competitive edge in the market,” he said.

Ms Collins has worked in financial services for two decades across a variety of marketing and relationship management roles, and has previously been employed with MLC Asset Management, NAB Asset Management and NAB Wealth Distribution, Ellerston Capital, UBS Wealth Management, and Macquarie Bank.

She holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Marketing) from the University of Western Sydney, a Master of Commerce (Finance) from the University of New South Wales, and is also RG 146 qualified.

Ms Collins will be based in the firm’s Sydney office.

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Mr Potter will be based in Sydney, and Ms Kitsakis will be based in Melbourne. They will both report to the company’s head of distribution, Anthony Cochran.

Mr Cochran said Mr Potter has three decades of investment market experience and the distribution team will benefit from his insights and expertise.

“Matthew’s ability to identify and act on opportunities that ultimately help clients achieve the best possible investment outcomes is fundamental to his hire and his experience in investment markets will be an asset to the team.

“More broadly, the appointment is a result of the increased interest from the market in the SGH strategies, and our sound investment performance over a sustained period of time,” he said.

Mr Potter joins SGH from Macquarie Group, where he was responsible for the New South Wales distribution of the Macquarie Professional Series suite of global equity funds and hedge funds. Throughout his 15-year tenure with Macquarie Group, he held the position of business development manager and in addition to managed funds, he also looked after listed equities, unlisted infrastructure, agriculture and private equity trusts.

He has previously held business development positions for Platypus Asset Management and Macquarie Investment Management. He holds a Bachelor of Business, majoring in accounting and finance from the University of Technology Sydney, as well as a Diploma in Financial Planning from Deakin University.

In her new role, Ms Kitsakis will be responsible for assisting the distribution team in increasing sales and retention of SGH’s funds by servicing existing clients and identifying new business opportunities while leveraging existing relationships.

“Like Matthew, Aristi’s appointment is further evidence of the company’s focus to build its funds under management via retail investment channels, with dealer groups and financial advisers,” Mr Cochran said.

“Her detailed knowledge and expertise in the retail financial services environment adds to the existing breadth and depth of our team,” said Mr Cochran.

Prior to joining SGH, Ms Kitsakis worked at Macquarie Group for 12 years in a variety of roles including business development, communications and EA, based in the Melbourne, London and New York offices. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from The University of Melbourne and has completed a Master of Communication from Swinburne University.

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In the role, Mr Cochran will be responsible for the distribution of SGH funds across Australia, and managing relationships with key business partners nationally.

Mr Hiscock said Mr Cochran has a strong performance track record of client management and business development.

“Anthony is an experienced manager of high performance sales teams and has an in-depth knowledge of the asset management industry.

“He also has a strong understanding of international and domestic markets as well as the value of active investing through time, complementing the broader team in our overall business objectives,” said Mr Hiscock.

Mr Cochran joins SGH after 14 years at Macquarie Bank, where he was responsible for distribution of the Macquarie Professional Series suite of global equity funds and hedge funds. During Mr Cochran’s time at Macquarie he held positions as the national distribution manager and business development manager.

Prior to joining Macquarie, Mr Cochran held business development positions for Ventura Investment Management for two years and Advance Asset Management for five years in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.

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