Areas of Specialisation

Vaughan Associates brings high-level investment manager research from one of the world's leading investment consulting firms to Australian and Japanese funds. Callan Associates (United States) employs over 100 professionals and advices a blue-chip client base of leading pension funds.

The emergence of globalisation in the world economy has altered the outlook for companies and thereby for investment managers. Drawing upon the experiences of best of breed industry professionals and utilising the latest academic research, Vaughan Associates provides investment advice on which global, regional and specialist equity managers to use and offers a tailored monitoring service for those funds seeking up to date intelligence based on Callan’s regular contact with their managers.

Diversification of debt investing to global bond markets is becoming an important part of strategies to counteract the trend to lower equity returns in the period ahead. We specialise in coverage of bond managers and manager structure advice across all the sectors within this asset class. Identification of both large and small boutique managers is provided.

Domestic property has been a strong returning asset class in recent years, but the industry is changing and diversification strategies are becoming more important. Global property and particularly the larger developed REIT market in the US offers the opportunity to reduce the risks of an end of cycle downturn in local markets. Through our Associates we offer capability in manager research and selection in REITs, based on an extensive database of US managers.

TAA is set to grow in importance as investors realign alpha generating strategies towards security selection, asset class exposure management and risk management in the new low-return environment. TAA managers that have invested heavily in quantitative research and modelling are demonstrating skill and adding value through exposures management as investment risks change across markets and asset classes. Vaughan Associates has been researching TAA for over 12 years and maintains a database on the major Australian and global players in this asset class. Research is based on site visits, and due diligence on investment teams and processes.

Vaughan Associates has been researching currency management since the 1980s and has an intimate knowledge of the best performing managers and strategies in this field. Currency management is generally under researched by the investment consulting community due to the complexity of management styles and the degree of specialisation required. Vaughan Associates can assist clients with a range of consulting services, including benchmarking, strategic currency advice, manager selection, performance incentives and monitoring.

A new entrepreneurialism has entered the Australia investment industry with the establishment of a large number of employee owned/controlled boutique firms in recent years. These firms represent a new force in funds management already, and feature a range of investment styles and capabilities which make them very attractive to trustees seeking stability amongst their investment managers. Vaughan Associates specialises in researching these managers and bringing advice on which styles and business models suit their Australian equity and property configurations.