Van Eyk Research’s plans to become a major player in the wholesale superannuation fund market received a fillip after the ratings group won the mandate to provide investment consulting and research to Queensland super fund, Sunsuper.
This brings van Eyk’s superannuation clients to seven, with a collective assets under management total of $4 billion. Sunsuper is one of its larger superannuation clients with assets of about $2.5 billion and half a million members. Other superannuation clients include Australian Primary Super, MAP Super, Spec Q, Uni NSW, Anglican Church and Accountants Super.
Van Eyk managing director Stephen van Eyk says: “The Sunsuper mandate shows we are capable of beating other wholesale consultants on bigger mandates, so it’s only a matter of time before people recognise us as a strong wholesale player.”
Van Eyk says his group is involved in a “concerted push” into the wholesale superannuation side of financial services, and is putting more energy into establishing itself in this market where its identity is somewhat less well-known.
Although the research house has been in the “true wholesale” superannuation market for the last two and a half years, he says there is still the perception in the marketplace that van Eyk is exclusively a retail player.
Van Eyk believes there are two areas which separate his company from most other wholesale consultants — it doesn’t manage its own funds and its rating of funds is a very public review which it commits to from the outset.
Sovereign director Ray King, who helped Sunsuper shop around for potential investment consultants, says six different investment advisers were investigated.
“Our final decision [to select van Eyk] was based on a strong feeling the [Sunsuper] board members had about working with van Eyk,” King says.
One of van Eyk’s strengths, he says, is its insights into the master trust business in Australia.
Van Eyk will become Sunsuper’s major adviser in areas such as manager selection and monitoring, configuration of managers, quantitative research and structuring of member investment choice.
Sunsuper will also use other specialist consultants, such as incumbent Industry Funds Services as its alternative investments adviser. This follows the recent strategic decision to adopt a multi-adviser structure, which King says plans to take advantage of the different areas of specialisation that different investment consultants can offer.
