Thursday, October 15, 2009

Anglicans hit by $160m loss


From Australia

THE investment arm of the Anglican Church's Sydney diocese posted a $160 million loss for the year ending December 2008 after its highly geared share portfolio crashed amid the global downturn.

The scale of the loss was accentuated by the fact its investment body, the Glebe Administration Board, chose to put most of its money with one fund manager.

The chief executive of the board, Steve McKerihan, said board members chose to invest more than three-quarters of its $388 million of ''growth assets'' with index funds held by Barclays Global Investors.

The remainder was invested in listed real estate investment trusts through Vanguard, with a small amount in unlisted property trusts.

Mr McKerihan, a former chief financial officer at St George Bank, conceded it was unusual to put 80 per cent of the ''growth assets'' with one fund manager and agreed that many rival wealth managers chose to divide funds between several managers to spread the risk.

The Glebe board blamed the size of the loss on its use of gearing.

More here-

http://www.smh.com.au/business/anglicans-hit-by-160m-loss-20091015-gz63.html

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