Fund manager search activity in Australia surged last year as institutional investors' appetite for emerging markets and alternative assets grew, according to new research.
Search activity in Australia almost doubled from 120 in 2009 to 216 in 2010, Mercer's "Global Manager Search Trends" report said.
There was also a rise in assets placed, from US$7.7 billion ($7.3 billion) in 2009, to US$14.9 billion ($14.1 billion) in 2010.
The study said the notable increases came through growing interest in assets such as real estate, emerging markets equities and commodities.
Real estate had 31 searches in 2010, compared to 8 in 2009, while emerging markets rose to seven from two.
Global equities searches increased from 23 in 2009 to 39 in 2010 and domestic shares rose from 24 to 44 as investors sought to diversify their portfolios, it said.
"We saw a lot of manager movement in Australian equities last year and search activity focused on smaller fund asset managers with highly-rated teams," Mercer head of manager research for Asia-Pacific Marianne Feeley said.
"Our clients have also been looking for small-cap managers, as small cap outperformed large cap in 2010.
"Another possible driver behind the increase in Australian equity searches is the tendency of some managers, particularly boutiques and small cap, to close to new investments."
