Russell Investment Group has dumped Macquarie Investment Management from its Australian property fund and replaced it with Perennial Investment Partners.
Russell head of property for Asia Pacific Sally Haskins said the manager change reflected investor appetite for absolute returns and an increasingly global outlook.
Perennial will manage 37.5 per cent of the Russell Australian Securities Fund and 20 per cent of its International Properties Securities Fund.
Haskins said Perennial's global presence was a key determinant in awarding them the mandate.
"The impact of offshore trusts on the sector is significant with over 40 per cent of the sector invested in global assets," she said.
"Consequently, it is very beneficial to have on-the-ground teams managing the LPTs [listed property trusts]."
The Australian fund, which has assets under management of $639 million, provides exposure to a diversified portfolio of Australian listed property securities.
The international property fund has $946 million in funds under management and is benchmarked to the UBS Global (ex-Australia) Real Estate Investors Net Index. Perennial will join AEW Capital Management, Invesco and Morgan Stanley in managing the fund's assets in a mandate covering the US, Europe and Asia.
