GSFM 2026 Investment Symposium
GSFM hosted our inaugural Investment Symposium in Sydney on
16 September 2025 and Melbourne on 18 September 2025
GSFM hosted our inaugural Investment Symposium, bringing together global thinkers and local leaders to chart the path forward for investors – with a sharp focus on 2026 and beyond.
From high-conviction panels on equities, fixed income and private markets to thought-provoking keynotes on geopolitical fragmentation and the rise of AI, the day delivered insights designed to cut through the noise.
The program was structured around three key areas of focus:
- The Big Buckets – Equities, Fixed Income & Risk
- Inefficient Asset Classes – Global, European, Asian & Australian Equities
- Private Markets – Equity, Credit, Real Assets & Venture Capital
Each segment featured short, high-impact presentations followed by panel discussions that brought together expert views from across the investment landscape.
The day opened with Bill Priest, Founder, Executive Chair and Portfolio Manager from TD Epoch, who delivered a powerful keynote that framed the broader themes of the day. With clarity and depth, Bill examined the rise of a fractured world order, unpacking the geopolitical, demographic and structural shifts reshaping global capital markets. His perspective offered valuable context for long-term investors navigating an increasingly complex environment.
Closing the Symposium, Nick Griffin, Founding Partner and CIO at Munro Partners, delivered a forward-looking keynote on one of the most transformative forces of our time: artificial intelligence. With his trademark clarity and conviction, Nick explored how AI is reshaping industries, influencing capital allocation, and opening new pathways for long-term investment opportunity – a fitting finale to a day focused on navigating what’s next.
Links to presentations, strategy deep dives and session recordings can be found below
The Big Buckets
Kevin Hebner, Ph.D
Global Investment Strategist
Kevin highlighted that the tailwind from a rising USD has ended, and, in this shifting economic landscape Australian investors should now re-evaluate portfolios through the lens of a falling USD and an overvalued US equity market. USD and an overvalued US equity market.
Live Symposium Presentation
Inside the Strategy: Fund Deep Dive
Alec Small, CFA
Portfolio Manager
Alec reaffirmed Payden’s belief that investment managers can add value by acting as a strategic “investment committee”, helping clients respond to market changes and emerging trends, as well as structuring portfolios to be best positioned to perform across a wide range of scenarios.
Live Symposium Presentation
Inside the Strategy: Fund Deep Dive
Marc-André Lewis, Ph.D
President & Chief Investment Officer
Marc-André posited that investing today requires a structured framework to navigate an increasingly complex and politically influenced market. Traditional models are being disrupted and investors should not react to short-term headlines or binary political risks.
Live Symposium Presentation
Inside the Strategy: Asset Class Deep Dive
The Inefficient Asset Classes
Qiao Ma
Partner & Portfolio Manager
Global small and mid-cap growth equities represent one of the most inefficient markets today Qiao told attendees. This offers compelling investment opportunities for Australian investors.
Live Symposium Presentation
Inside the Strategy: Fund Deep Dive
Francisco de Juan
Chief Investment Officer
Alantra’s strategy is somewhat different to the typical small cap manager. As Francisco explained, the strategy focuses on active ownership, helping small-cap companies evolve into mid-cap businesses over several years to generate operational improvements and valuation upside.
Symposium Live Presentation
Inside the Strategy: Fund Deep Dive
Alethea Leung
Portfolio Manager, Asia ex-Japan
Asian markets have already outperformed in 2025. While valuation discounts have narrowed, Alethea explained that Asian equities remain attractive, driven by fiscal stimulus, technology, structural growth trends and domestic policy support.
Symposium Live Presentation
Inside the Strategy: Fund Deep Dive
Tim Carleton, CFA CMT
Founder and Chief Investment Officer
The CIO of our newest investment partner believes the Australian market presents a compelling case for active management, particularly in mid-cap stocks.
Symposium Live Presentation
Inside the Strategy: Manager Deep Dive
The Private Markets
Geof Marshall, CFA
Lead – Private Markets
Geof posited that private markets offer a more efficient way to build resilient, high-performing client portfolios – a “better mousetrap” – that addresses challenges in the shrinking and increasingly correlated public markets.
Symposium Live Presentation
Inside the Strategy: Asset Class Deep Dive
Aymeric Paul
Partner & Head of Infrastructure
Aymeric focused on European small-cap buyouts and infrastructure investments, which he described as compelling opportunities within private markets. Further, he believes these sectors represent well-timed, high-potential opportunities for investors seeking growth, diversification and resilience.
Symposium Live Presentation
Inside the Strategy: Fund Deep Dive
Intelligence Revolution
Nick Griffin
Founding Partner & Chief Investment Officer
Many of you will have seen Nick Griffin present and know how passionate he is about structural change driving investment opportunity. He reinforced his strong belief that we’re in the early stages of a massive technological and economic transformation driven by artificial intelligence, one he believes is comparable to the Industrial Revolution.
Symposium Live Presentation
Inside the Strategy: Fund Deep Dive
Panels
Panel 1: The Big Buckets
In this session moderated by Jonathan Ramsay from Trellia Wealth Partners, Kevin Hebner, Alec Small and Marc-André Lewis tackled how to think across equities, fixed income and risk in a complex global environment.
Panel 2: Inefficient Asset Classes
The panel featuring Qiao Ma, Francisco de Juan, Alethea Leung and Tim Carleton and moderated by Drummond Partner’s Adele O’Shannassy, explored opportunities and nuances across global, European, Asian, and Australian equity markets, focusing on how inefficiencies and regional divergences are creating alpha potential.
Panel 3: Private Markets
This panel, moderated by Genium’s Chris Lioutas and featuring Geof Marshall, Aymeric Paul and Marc-André Lewis, dove into the growing role of private markets—covering private equity, credit, real assets and venture capital—and how they can complement public allocations.
Related Content
Gary Freilich
Partner
26North is a next‑generation alternative asset management firm founded in 2022 by Josh Harris, co‑founder of Apollo. The firm operates across multiple asset classes—private equity, credit, insurance and reinsurance—with a cross‑platform, “no walls” approach that promotes collaboration and idea sharing through integrated investment committees. One of its distinguishing features is its focus on mid‑market, flexible capital deployment, aiming for alignment with partners and selective alpha generation rather than mass scale.
Jess Lipsey
Partner – Real Assets
Apollo Global Management is a leading global alternative asset manager with deep expertise across private equity, credit and real assets. Since its founding in 1990, Apollo has built a reputation for disciplined deal sourcing and active value creation. Today, with hundreds of billions of dollars under management, Apollo deploys capital globally on behalf of institutions, sovereigns and high net worth clients—driving innovation, taking on complex opportunities, and seeking long-term risk‑adjusted returns.
Don Young
Co-CEO / Co-CIO
Canal Road Group, founded in 2023 and headquartered in Miami, is a specialist alternative asset manager focused on sourcing, underwriting and managing senior secured corporate debt investments. The firm’s leadership, including former founders of CBAM Partners, brings substantial credit investing experience to the platform. With a streamlined structure—one investment committee, one research team—Canal Road is built to move efficiently between private and public credit opportunities. Recently, the group secured a US$250 million credit facility with major banks to expand its investible capital in private corporate lending strategies.
Yann Robard
Managing Partner
Founded in 2015 as Whitehorse Liquidity Partners and recently rebranded, Dawson Partners is a Toronto‑based alternative asset manager that specialises in structured liquidity and preferred equity solutions across private markets. With over US$20 billion in assets under management and a track record of executing more than 225 transactions, Dawson delivers bespoke financing options to LPs and GPs alike. The firm is also expanding its global reach, now operating offices in Toronto, London and New York.
Munro Partners
Munro Partners is a Melbourne‑based investment firm specialising in global growth equities, built as a partnership to align long‑term thinking with investor outcomes. Since its founding in 2016, Munro has focused on leveraging structural growth trends, investing alongside clients across concentrated portfolios, and integrating ESG principles into its process. Today, its strategies span listed ETFs and unlisted funds targeting global growth, climate themes, and small/mid‑cap opportunities.
Watch | Inside the Strategy with Kieran Moore
Watch | Inside the Strategy with James Tsinidis
Peter Szekely
Managing Director & Portfolio Manager
Tanarra Credit Partners (TCP) is an Asia‑Pacific private credit specialist based in Sydney and Melbourne, focused on senior and mezzanine loan investments for asset‑light and growth companies. Since launching their Asia‑Pacific Fund I in 2018, TCP has built a high‑quality portfolio across Australia and New Zealand, leveraging direct origination, disciplined underwriting and deep regional networks to deliver attractive risk‑adjusted returns.
Russell Korgaonkar
Head of Systematic, Man Group & CIO, Man AHL
Man AHL is the systematic investing arm of Man Group, blending rigorous quantitative research with advanced technology to trade across hundreds of global markets. Since its beginnings in 1987 as a trend-following CTA, it has evolved into a multi-strategy quant business, applying scientific methods to uncover persistent market inefficiencies. With a strong focus on diversification, risk control, and empirical evidence, Man AHL aims to deliver robust, systematic returns for investors across its portfolio of products.