A co-architect of AustralianSuper’s internal fundamental equities capability who grew the team to $20 billion has departed the $430 billion superannuation fund after more than a decade.
Oliver Johnson left the super fund at the start of August to join global equities fund manager Nanuk Asset Management.
He was previously a senior portfolio manager on AustralianSuper’s global internal fundamental equities team for a decade.
He was a co-architect of the super fund’s internal fundamental equities capability which he designed and scaled to $20 billion and led the mentoring of its analyst team. Most recently, he was head of its consumer discretionary team.
Johnson first joined AustralianSuper in 2015 as a portfolio manager from Alliance Trust where he was an investment manager for the global consumer team.
AustralianSuper has been actively transitioning to internal capabilities over the past few years and Australian equities was the one of the first asset classes to take this format. Almost 60 per cent of the investment portfolio is internally managed which the fund said reduces investment costs, enhances investment control and makes it more agile to changing market conditions.
At Nanuk, he will join the firm’s investment team led by chief investment officer Tom King and the firm noted his experience at the super fund in integrating quantitative, alternative data and artificial intelligence tools into fundamental research workflows is an area of active development for Nanuk.
King said: “Oliver is a highly regarded portfolio manager with a track record of alpha generation and deep expertise across a wide range of opportunities relevant to the New World strategy. His appointment is a continuation of our ongoing reinvestment in the business and our commitment to strengthening an already high-calibre investment team. We’re delighted to welcome him to Nanuk.”