Former Aware Super execs to head up new mid-cap fund

Tim Riordan, former head of direct equities at Aware Super, and Mike Teran, associate portfolio manager, have been tapped to head up the Mid Cap Quality fund at newly launched Blackwattle Investment Partners.

The investment executives departed the super fund in March this year.

At Aware Super, Riordan had overseen the inception of its $2.2 billion Midcap Australian Equities fund five years ago and managed the fund with Teran for the past three years. 

He had also led the direct equities team and was responsible for running small-cap and strategic equities portfolios. 

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Sharing the new role on LinkedIn, Riordan said he was “truly lucky” to have Teran as a partner and was “thrilled to be building this fund together”.

Teran added: “We are looking to replicate the quality focused, longer term investment strategy that we successfully ran together prior and continue to generate solid and consistent returns through both up and down markets.”

Blackwattle, which commenced operations this week, was a new-generation diversified funds manager and would launch its first four investment portfolios from July 2023. 

Apart from the mid-cap fund, its other offerings included the Long Short 130/30 Quality and Large Cap Quality funds, led by Ray David and Joe Koh, who had previously helped manage over $12 billion at Schroders Australia. 

It would also include the Small Cap Quality fund, managed by Robert Hawkesford and Daniel Broeren, who together held over 40 years of investment experience at Ellerston and Watermark.

Blackwattle’s leadership team comprised managing director and chief investment officer Michael Skinner (ex-Renaissance Asset Management); chief executive Jarred Rubin, formerly with Citi Institutional Equity Sales; executive director Matthew Dell, previously with Pinnacle; and head of distribution Maggie Mills, former head of investment sales at Zurich.

It launched with an initial seed capital of up to $60 million and six years of funding.

“Our culture is focused on alignment, quality, and trust. We are building a new generation asset management business where each of us are partners and owners,” Riordan wrote on LinkedIn.

“We are aligned with each other through shared ownership of the company, material personal investment into our own funds alongside clients, no personal trading and ongoing reinvestment of profits into the company and our funds.”