Rest revamps equities team

Industry superannuation fund Rest has restructured its listed assets team as it adopts a more holistic approach to investing its $66 billion funds.

As Rest continues to enhance its whole-of-fund investment style, it has realigned the roles to better fit the methodology.

Rather than an Australian and global geographic split, Rest said responsibilities are now functionally focused on research and portfolio construction responsibilities.

Rest's whole-of-fund approach is a total portfolio approach.

"We take a holistic view to identify and manage risks and opportunities within the entire portfolio to enhance our investment decision-making and achieve even better member outcomes."

As a result, Chris Drew is now head of portfolio construction - external equities.  And Sonia Bluzmanis is head of research -  external equities based out of Rest's London office.

Both roles hold responsibilities across Rest's externally managed listed equities portfolio, both Australian and global.

"We look forward to continuing to drive synergies across our listed asset capabilities," a spokesperson said.

Drew and Bluzmanis joined Rest eighteen months ago as the head of Australian equities and senior manager of global equities, respectively.

They continue to report to Kiran Singh, head of listed assets.

Australian equities that are managed in-house represent less than two per cent of total assets under management and around 8 per cent of all Australian equities.

Offshore listed equities are all externally managed.

Before arriving at Rest, Drew was an investment manager for public markets with Australian Catholic Superannuation, a role he held since 2015.

Earlier, Drew spent three years with Sunsuper as a portfolio analyst and then as an investment manager, primarily responsible for managing the Australian equities portfolio.

He also did a five-year stint as an investment analyst at FuturePlus Financial Services, an Energy Industries Superannuation Scheme subsidiary.

Before joining Rest, Bluzmanis spent nearly five years as a portfolio manager at BT and ten years at Colonial First State as a senior investment manager.

The evolution of the portfolio approach began three years ago when Rest's wholly-owned investment arm Super Investment Management was absorbed into the fund's internal investments team, and a new chief investment officer role was created.

Separately, Rest has promoted Cassandra Flint to head of product delivery and disclosure.

Up until this month, she was a senior manager of product development.

Before her two years with the super fund, she worked at Suncorp and Zurich in a similar role.