Bentley departs iPartners; MSCI names Australasia sales head Investment News

Thom Bentley has been made redundant from the Australian alternative investments specialist iPartners following an 18-month stint as the group’s NZ head of capital markets.

Bentley joined iPartners, which has launched two wholesale portfolio investment entity (PIE) funds, in November 2022 after serving for a similar period as the NZ head for Australian firm, Betashares.

He was the first NZ employee for both the exchange-traded fund provider, Betashares, and iPartners.

Previously, Bentley spent three years as head of institutional for the NZX-owned Smartshares following a long career in various distribution roles both here and in the UK. Last year Betashares named former Smartshares chief, Hugh Stevens, as NZ director in a part-time role.

Founded by Travis Miller and Rob Nankivell, iPartners offers wholesale clients access to alternative assets including private credit, asset backed debt, property, private equity and private credit funds via an online platform with a A$10,000 minimum investment.

Also last week, data and index provider, MSCI, hired Shane Edwards as head of Australia and NZ client coverage, replacing Simone Bouch who left the role last May after four years.

The Sydney-based Edwards “will be responsible for driving MSCI’s commercial activities in Australia and New Zealand markets, managing client relationships and delivering a cohesive, solutions-driven strategy for clients both within Australia and New Zealand and across the APAC region”, according to a release.

He returns to the workforce after a four-year hiatus as a private investor following a more than two decades in senior institutional derivatives sales jobs in Australia and the UK.

“He previously held a variety of leadership roles at UBS, including the Managing Director and Global Head of Equity Derivatives where he led the sales of complex products across all asset classes to a broad client spectrum,” the statement says.

Edwards reports to Kazuya Nagasawa, MSCI head of client coverage APAC.

“I am confident that his leadership will prove critical to advancing MSCI’s mission of delivering services and solutions that address the evolving needs of our established and growing client base in the region,” Nagasawa said.