Andrew Strachan and David Brown, co-heads of private markets for the A$35 billion (US$36.86 billion) Victorian Funds Management Corp., were let go this month in a move to downplay private equity in favor of infrastructure.
Justin Arter, CEO of Victorian Funds Management, which invests for public authorities in the Australian state of Victoria, said the move was in response to client concerns that surfaced during triennial asset liability modeling reviews held late last year.
“They think infrastructure is best suited to match those long-term liabilities that they have,” Mr. Arter said. “Our private equity investments have performed fantastically so clients are either at weight or overweight in that asset class.”
VFMC will continue to manage more than A$1 billion of existing private equity investments. The remaining private markets team member, Alistair Wong, will be assisted in this by the rest of VFMC’s investment team, and will report to Deputy Chief Investment Officer Andrew Elliott.
Responding to talk of a board push for VFMC to outsource private equity management altogether, Mr. Arter said there were no plans to do so.
Michael Bailey is editor of I&T News, Sydney.
