QIC restructures

The Australian institutional investment manager will now invest in asset classes including private equity, infrastructure and real estate through a ‘house of boutiques’ model.

Queensland government-owned institutional investment manager QIC has reworked its investment policy to adopt a “house of boutiques” model.

The restructure follows a strategic review, which began earlier this year, involving consultancies Oliver Wyman and Mercer Human Resources.

The firm has split its investment activities into nine separate investment businesses, which include global private equity, global infrastructure and global real estate. These will continue to be led by their existing heads, Marcus Simpson (global private equity), Ross Israel (global infrastructure) and Rob Carter (global real estate).

The new model leverages “the specialisation, responsiveness and client-alignment of a boutique with the backing, risk management and robust systems of a large investment manager,” Doug McTaggart, QIC chief executive, said in a statement.

The other boutiques in the new model are global fixed interest, Australian large companies equities, Australian small companies equities, implemented Australian equities, quantitative management, strategy and capital markets.

The restructure has seen QIC, which has made some redundancies as a result of the restructuring process, abandon its implemented solutions and global tactical asset allocation businesses. 

The A$65 billion ($56 billion; €39 billion) fund manager, which manages funds on behalf of 80 institutional clients, currently allocates about 5 percent of its assets to private equity, according to PEI's private equity data provider Private Equity Connect. It has made commitments to more than 47 private equity funds, including those managed by France-based Chequers Capital and Australia-based Nanyang Ventures and TVP.