Advance Asset Management has awarded boutique fund manager Alleron Investment Management a mandate of just under $50 million for its single manager funds: the Advance Concentrated Australian Shares Fund and its wholesale version.
Alleron replaced MIR Investment Management, which had managed the portfolio since the launch of the fund in September 2005, a spokesperson for the firm said.
Alleron is partly owned by Ascalon Capital Managers, which like Advance is a subsidiary of Westpac.
Last year, Alleron was already appointed to manage the Australian equity portion of Advance's multi-manager portfolios after an extensive review of all managers sparked by the merger of Westpac and St George.
At that time, MIR lost its Australian equities mandate for the multi-manager funds.
According to data from Morningstar, MIR has performed relatively poorly compared to similar funds.
"As well as a one-star Morningstar rating, indicating very poor peer-relative risk-adjusted historical performance, the concentrated fund was fourth quartile relative to the 61 other funds in our Australian large growth category over both the three and five years to 31 December 2010," Morningstar editorial and communications manager Phillip Gray said.
