Rest names global equities lead
Rest Super, the $76 billion industry fund has recruited a former AMP Capital investment strategist to run internal global equities.
As head of internal global equities, Richard Mercado will play a pivotal role in building up a dedicated internal global equities team.
Reporting to Kiran Singh, head of listed assets, he will return to Sydney, where he started his career with AMP Capital Investors.
In the new role, he is tasked with implementing an active, fundamental stock-picking strategy as a part of Rest's broader, ongoing journey to internalise some investment strategies.
The recruit joins from Comgest in Paris, where he was a high-conviction portfolio manager specialising in global equities.
Before that, he was a senior portfolio manager at USS Investment Management, the largest pension fund in the UK.
There, he ran a North American equities fund.
Mercado has also held positions with F&C Investments in London and Capital Partners.
Rest chief investment officer Andrew Lill said expanding its in-house management capabilities to include its global equities portfolio should deliver further value to the fund's 1.96 million members.
"We are committed to continuing to deliver strong long-term returns and keeping our fees as low as possible," he said, adding that investment fees and costs for 2022/23 were the lowest they'd been in recent years.
"Using our scale and expertise to build further internal capability aims to help us realise further value for our members."
Lill added that internal management can provide additional benefits and insights to complement Rest's external managers.
"This gives us a more holistic view of how companies are contributing to our overall portfolio and our sustainability goals," he added.
Lill said Mercado's proven track record makes him well-suited to developing and leading the fund's new internal global equities team.
"He adds further depth and knowledge to the expertise we've been building within our investments team in recent years," he stated.
"We are delighted to welcome Richard to the team and back to Australia after many years abroad."
