Watermark’s Braitling hangs up his boots; hands fund to Blackwattle

afr.com:

Just five months after launch, Blackwattle Investment Partners is flexing its acquisition muscle.

Street Talk can reveal Watermark chief investment officer Justin Braitling is retiring from the industry and handing over the reins of his $90 million Absolute Return Fund to Blackwattle.

Braitling is a 30-year industry veteran and spent 11 years at Bankers Trust Australia. He founded Sydney-based hedge fund Watermark in 2003 as an absolute return manager.

Blackwattle Investment Partners (from left) Michael Skinner, Jarred Rubin, Matthew Dell and Maggie Mills in their Sydney office. Natalie Boog

“After 30 years of investing in Australian public companies as an institutional investor, I have decided it is time to retire and pursue other interests,” Braitling told unitholders on Friday.

“I have enjoyed tremendously my years managing money for our investors and believe deeply in the merits of the Fund’s strategy.”

As part of the transition, Watermark co-portfolio manager Daniel Broeren will manage the fund alongside Blackwattle portfolio manager and partner Robert Hawkesford, supported by analyst Andy Chuk. Broeren left Watermark in May and has been in funds management since 2015, first at ECP Asset Management and then at the Invesco Small Companies Fund.

Blackwattle will also pivot the fund to a small-cap expansion strategy (130/30), placing a greater focus on small companies, and rename it the Blackwattle Small Cap Long-Short Quality fund. Today, Telstra, Mirvac, Suncorp and ResMed are among Watermark’s top holdings and the fund’s positions are split evenly between long and short. The benchmark will shift to the S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries Accumulation from the RBA Cash Rate and retain a higher market exposure through market