Vision Super and CARE Super are understood to be discussing a merger which will, if it goes ahead, create a fund with close to $4.5 billion in funds under management.
CARE Super has about 227,000 members and manages about $2.2 billion. Vision Super has about 96,000 members with about $2.4 billion in funds under management. Julie Lander, CARE Super chief executive officer, would not comment on a potential merger yesterday. Rob Brooks, Vision Super chief executive, was unavailable for comment. Vision Super is the trustee for the Victorian Local Authorities Superannuation Fund and CARE Super is for the professional, managerial, administrative, service and related industries. Both funds are Victorian based and share a common director in Angela Emslie. Vision Super was granted an extended public offer licence in September. In addition to the standard Registerable Superannuation Entity (RSE) licence all funds must obtain under the new APRA regulations, the extended public offer licence enables Vision to launch a public offer fund. CARE Super is also public offer fund and is in the process of applying for its RSE licence. Last year there were 1,100 APRA-regulated superannuation funds but the regulator expected there would be less than half that in existence, and possibly fewer than 400, by June next year when the new licensing program ends. Funds that have not obtained a licence by then will be forced to wind up. While many smaller funds are outsourcing, others, such as the Superannuation Trust of Australia (STA) and the Australian Retirement Fund (ARF), are announcing mega mergers. Still others, such as Sydney-based SERF, have been looking at ways to achieve back-office savings through alliances and partial mergers. In May STA and ARF agreed to an ‘in-principle’ merger which will create a $13 billion combined fund. Choice of Fund is also a driver of the ‘mega-merger’ trend. The combined resources of two or more large funds enable superannuation funds to compete more effectively for members by offering scale benefits. They are also better able to invest in alternative and illiquid investments such as infrastructure and unlisted property.
The changing nature of volatility in financial markets and a more client-centric approach that allows allocations to be tailored is helping more institutions adopt a total portfolio approach to investment management, the Fiduciary Investors Symposium at Stanford University has heard.
Prashant MehraOctober 8, 2024
