REST

Following a significant technology and systems uplift, Rest feels it’s ready to do global equities in-house. That doesn’t necessarily mean its roster of external managers will lose out.

From little things big things grow, and the $75 billion industry fund hopes the impact investment commitments it and other funds have made will expand beyond their initial targets in the same way renewables did.

The $75 billion industry fund is creating an “active, fundamental stock-picking” internal global equity capability and has lined up a former Comgest portfolio manager to oversee it.

Competition in super is heating up but it’s not yet come to the boil. Mergers, member retention and retirement are all shaping up as key battlegrounds for funds.

Traditional portfolio construction might be dead. But that doesn’t mean there’s no way to beat inflation, even as investors anticipate it will continue to rise and fall over the next decade.

Super fund trustees are throwing their full weight behind nation building projects where they feel their funds can get a competitive return, while the Coalition’s competing super for housing policy has been labelled “elitist”.

Rest has brought on former Colonial First State executive director for investments Scott Tully and Spirit Super’s Paul Docherty to get a “fresh set of eyes” on its investment options.

It’s not quite over, but the dislocation in equity markets and forced selling is leaving plenty of bargains on the floor. Super fund CIOs will be particularly glad for “the strongest tool in their kitbag”.

Rest has flashed its sustainable and private markets credentials with a stake in AMP Capital’s schmick redevelopment of 50 Bridge Street.

Calvert Research and Management has seen its decarbonization mandate with Rest expanded to the fund’s Australian equities portfolio.