Cbus, a Melbourne-based super fund focused on employees of Australia's construction and building trades, appointed new heads of investment for the A$54 billion ($41.8 billion) fund's real estate, private equity and equity portfolio construction teams.
John Longo will join in mid-February as head of property, a news release said Friday. Mr. Longo will replace Brian McGovern, who'll stay on for a few months to assist in the transition, a Cbus spokeswoman said in an email. Mr. McGovern could not immediately be reached for comment.
Mr. Longo was a senior investment director, property at AustralianSuper, a Melbourne-based industry fund overseeing more than A$200 billion in retirement assets. An AustralianSuper spokesman could not be reached for comment regarding a replacement.
The same news release said Serge Allaire will start in mid-February as head of private equity — a new position at Cbus, the spokeswoman said.
Mr. Allaire was a portfolio manager at MLC Private Equity. A spokeswoman for MLC said other team members will share Mr. Allaire's responsibilities until the recruitment of a new portfolio manager can be finalized.
James Crawford also joined Cbus as head of equity portfolio construction, a new role. He was global head of investment specialists at Sydney-based First Sentier Investors. A spokesman for First Sentier could not immediately be reached for comment regarding a replacement.
The appointments of Messrs. Longo, Allaire and Crawford continue the build-up of expertise that will allow Cbus to manage significantly larger portions of its portfolio in-house, reducing management costs while capturing attractive investment opportunities, Kristian Fok, Cbus' chief investment officer, said in the news release.
Within Cbus' main default option — where most of its assets sit — the real estate allocation was 11.9% as of June 30 while private equity was 3.04%. Cbus' equities allocation was split across Australian shares at 23.89%, global stocks at 21.96% and emerging market equities at 5.4% as of June 30.
