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Bennelong and Quay launch joint initiative

Bennelong Funds Management (Bennelong) is pleased to announce a new addition to its stable of boutiques: Quay Global Investors (Quay), a joint initiative between Quay’s principals Justin Blaess and Chris Bedingfield, and Bennelong.


Quay Global Investors has been successfully operating as Quay Real Estate Advisors since 2013, with a focus on preserving and creating wealth for investors through investments in real estate securities. Since inception (31 July 2014), the Quay Global Real Estate Fund has delivered a return of 27.7% (as at 30 April 2015).

The team believes real estate is well positioned to deliver attractive after inflation returns to investors, defining investment success as achieving a real increase in an investor's purchasing power over time. Benchmarking to an index or the cash rate does not guarantee or focus on this outcome; rather Quay believes benchmarking to a margin over inflation can achieve this goal.

Justin said the pair was excited to be tapping into Bennelong’s extensive and proven expertise through the new initiative. “We were looking for a partner to help drive our business into a new phase of growth and Bennelong’s suite of services, in particular its distribution support, ticked all the boxes. It was about partnering with an expert in this area so we could focus on managing our portfolio and continuing to deliver strong returns to investors,” he said.

Justin has a broad and extensive background in investment management, investment banking and equities research. Prior to co-founding Quay, Justin was part of Deutsche Bank's real estate investment banking team in Australia. His corporate finance experience, including a prior role at Merrill Lynch, extends to equity and equity-linked capital markets transactions, M&A and debt arrangement, incorporating involvement in cross border real estate transactions between Australia and the US, Hong Kong, UK, Singapore and Brazil.

Prior to Deutsche Bank, Justin was employed at ING Investment Management in Sydney where he was responsible for the portfolio management of all INGIM's listed real estate portfolios, with in excess of A$2bn of assets under management. During this period, Justin delivered a track record of peer-leading returns recognised by various industry awards.

Chris has over 20 years experience working as a real estate specialist with a background in investment banking and equities research. Prior to co-founding Quay, Chris was in the Real Estate Investment Banking group at Credit Suisse in Sydney and previously Head of Real Estate Investment Banking at Deutsche Bank. In prior roles, Chris led real estate equities research teams at Deutsche Bank, HSBC James Capel and ANZ McCaughan.

He has also led many large and transformational transactions for clients including Westfield, GDI Property Group, Tishman Speyer, Dexus, Morgan Stanley, Macquarie Bank, Mirvac Group, Principal and Colonial First State.

Craig Bingham, Bennelong’s Chief Executive Officer, said the business was thrilled to add to its growing stable of quality boutique managers, particularly a business with Quay’s experience and track record. “Our focus is very firmly on building a suite of high grade investment managers and products, and Justin, Chris and the business they’ve built definitely fits that criteria,” Craig said. “This broadening of our capabilities is the next step in delivering on our vision of becoming a multi-asset business delivering high alpha investment opportunities from around the globe.”