Ord Minnett eyes bigger slice of small-cap equities, hires analysts
Ord Minnett wants to cover a greater slice of the small- and mid-cap stock market, and is growing its institutional equities and research team to do it.
The stockbroker will provide more research on Australia’s emerging businesses for its institutional and retail clients, at a time when rival investment banks and brokerage firms focus on the ASX’s largest stocks and allocate less of their analysts’ time to smaller companies.
Alastair Hunter (left), Ord Minnett’s new head of institutional research, and Angus Esslemont, the firm’s head of institutional equities, want to grow their equities team to 20. Oscar Colman
Ord’s decision to go deeper into small- and medium-cap stocks comes amid a lean period in equity capital markets, with chemicals company Redox’s initial public offering the sole deal to clear the $100 million mark this year. The volume of shares traded on the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index has also dipped about 0.3 per cent this year, and that will increase if acquisition targets like Newcrest Mining and InvoCare leave the bourse.
“We think the small-cap sector is currently underperforming [on the ASX]. But strategically, we think it is going to turn around and the allocation within Australian equities will increase into the small-cap segment as a cyclical rebound comes through in the next 12-18 months,” Alastair Hunter, Ord Minnett’s head of institutional research, said.
Mr Hunter joined the stockbroker from Goldman Sachs in December. He is leading Ord’s effort with Angus Esslemont, the head of institutional equities, who also joined the company from Goldman Sachs in September 2021.
Together, the pair want to grow Ord’s coverage to 150 stocks from 90 in the next 18 months, and become the country’s number one small-
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