AustralianSuper

They might be behemoths at home, but Australia’s biggest super funds will be on the backfoot as they scour the globe for investment opportunities. NAB’s biennial FX Hedging survey is not only a good insight into super fund hedging strategies, but the state of the industry itself – particularly its growing interest in markets beyond…

The backyard keeps shrinking. And as another big asset disappears from the public market, Australian listed infrastructure investors will have few options but to look abroad for their exposure. The sale of Sydney Airport has generated plenty of headlines about the might of big super funds; no shortage of acrimony about another of Australia’s sparse…

The accusations of insider trading hurled at Australia’s big super funds are explosive in nature – and pose something of a headscratcher. Regardless of their weight, reputations are at stake. The revelations made by ASIC on Wednesday last week (October 27) are a tough wake-up call for an industry that prides itself on its duty…

The money that industry super funds are spending on buying renewables would be better spent building them, according to Quinbrook. But there’s plenty of challengers for that view. The fresh interest in renewable infrastructure from industry funds has come with plenty of caveats. One of the major problems is finding investment opportunities at scale, while…

As AustralianSuper continues to grow, Mark Delaney is focusing his attention on the burgeoning private markets space and the problem of culture in megafund land. “Size can creep up on you. You stand still, and all of a sudden you’re bigger than what you think you are. I first started managing pension money 20 years…

The tilt at Sydney airport and the privatisation of WestConnex has showcased the appetite for Australian infrastructure from super funds and offshore investors. The only problem is in meeting it. “The appetite to invest in Australia, as you’re seeing through these mega-privatisations, is huge,”says Nicole Walker, chief commercial officer at specialist alternative asset manager HRL…

Cashed-up industry funds are expected to be leaders leader in post-pandemic M&A activity as investors begin to see the light at the end of the Covid-19 tunnel. While Fidelity anticipates that the Covid-19 pandemic has caused a structural shift in consumer and market behaviour, the increased certainty provided by reopening means that M&A activity will…

Super funds may soon be forced to reveal internal valuations for unlisted assets. But the lesson from the Future Fund is that the new regulations aren’t in anybody’s best interests. While much of government’s recent focus has been on implementing the “Your Future Your Super” performance test, super funds could also soon be subject to…

Last year a big super fund, Aware Super, shocked the M&A market in Australia with a surprise bid for a listed company, OptiComm. It signalled a new era in competition among players at the big end of town. It was the first time a super fund had tried to buy a whole listed company in…

AustralianSuper is no longer the underdog. The question is what becomes of the industry fund culture when industry funds “are the status quo”. As Australia’s first $200 billion+ megafund, AustralianSuper is no longer the upstart born of the 2006 merger of the Australian Retirement Fund (ARF) and the Superannuation Trust of Australia (STA). It’s also…