Russell in $1b manager shake-up

By Charlie Corbett
Mon 07 May 2007

Russell Investment Management has made more than $1 billion worth of manager changes within its international and Australian equities funds.

Russell Investment Management has made more than $1 billion worth of manager changes within its international and Australian equities funds.

It has dumped international managers Marvin and Palmer and The Boston Company, which both had mandates worth $414.9 million, and taken on Altrinsic and Alliance Bernstein for the same amounts. Alliance Bernstein has a mandate to be aggressive.

The moves represent almost 20 per cent of Russell's fund, which now has a total exposure to global equities of 30 per cent, up from 15 per cent last year.

Russell chief investment officer Peter Gunning told Investor Weekly the mandate changes were part of a more global investment outlook.

The two new managers, Altrinsic and Alliance Bernstein, were appointed partly because they include US stocks in their portfolios.

Marvin and Palmer and The Boston Company had a non-US global mandate.

"It makes sense to allow investment managers to be less constrained by country factors," Gunning said.

Russell has also awarded an international mandate worth $212.5 million to US manager T Rowe Price.

The manager changes took place in Russell's International Shares Fund, which is distinct from its Global Opportunities Fund.

The Global Opportunities Fund, which was founded just over two years ago, has four managers: Axiom, Arrow Street, MFS and T Rowe Price.

Gunning also confirmed Russell had dumped beleaguered Australian equities manager Invesco and spread its $266.6 million mandate across existing domestic managers.

"We decided it was better to spread the exposure across existing managers rather than wait until we appoint another manager," he said.

Russell terminated its Invesco mandate following the departure of two key Invesco managers, Rohan Walsh and Luke Sinclair.

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