IFM

Vanguard usurped BlackRock as the biggest institutional fund manager in 2022 during a year where most firms went backwards, according to the latest Pensions & Investments global survey.

Industry super fund owned IFM Investors and ISPT are exploring a merger at the request of their shareholders amidst a challenging outlook for commercial property.

There’s “nothing sinister” about funds taking advantage of government incentives to enhance returns for members, according to IFM. And when it comes to those funds heading offshore, “culture eats strategy”.

Industry superannuation has, for the most part, been a roaring success. But it needs to retain its “missionary zeal” if it’s to avoid the same fate that befell the other giants that once dominated the landscape.

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 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…

The small cap sector has traditionally been the domain of the underinformed and underprepared. But by taking a fundamentals-based systematic approach, Blue Orbit is hoping to change the game. “There’s a real clear gap and an opportunity for us to approach this from the ground up,” said Megan Talmage, Blue Orbit director and portfolio manager….

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…

With equities and bonds both fully priced, investors are increasingly looking at alternative strategies. A new one, although difficult to access, is ‘greenfields infrastructure’. According to David Neal, the chief executive of IFM Investors and a former CIO and chief executive of the Future Fund, the conundrum for investors was well expressed by Stein’s Law…