Analysis

Big super funds still aren’t really involved in the large nation-building projects that could make Australia a renewables powerhouse. Getting them to “cross the Rubicon” will take initiative from infrastructure managers and leadership from Australia’s sovereign wealth fund.

The first chair of the Future Fund has rubbished “populist pleas” to use the money in Australia’s sovereign wealth fund for pet causes, saying that they are “infused with an unrealistic optimism of the likelihood of success”.

The market “ran hard” in the last quarter of 2023 and so did Australia’s sovereign wealth fund, making a cool $15.6 billion for the calendar year even as it effected sweeping changes to the portfolio.

Super funds rode the late 2023 risk rally to spectacular effect, with the $13 billion Mine Super first in Chant West’s calendar year league table and a host of other small funds also making the top 10.

Markets are “overly sanguine” about how easy it will be to achieve the last mile of disinflation. The Fed might not cut rates rapidly, and if they do we might not like the reasons.

Interest rates aren’t going back to what the current generation of investors consider ‘normal’ anytime soon, according to Oaktree’s Howard Marks, and different strategies will outperform in the years to come.

Global government-linked investment vehicles clawed back about US$1.4 trillion of 2022 losses by the end of last year on an expected path to more than US$70 trillion by 2030.

The Magnificent Seven stocks have investors sweating market concentration, but throughout history that concentration has been the norm. All the game is still in the few.

Artificial intelligence will expand the private equity opportunity set, according to BlackRock, while bargain-hunting real estate investors will soon get the discounts they’re looking for.

Major moves in custody and investment internalisation were ISN’s biggest stories of 2023, but hard-headed analysis of retirement risk and credit quality pulled plenty of eyeballs too.

Russia might yet escalate its war in Ukraine, while a global recession remains an uncomfortable possibility. But alpha generation potential should increase and liquid alts will be “crucial” as growth uncertainty persists.

APAC family offices are pursuing opportunities in the emerging markets and private debt, and performed better in 2022 than their global peer group according to Campden Wealth.