The $31 billion pooled fund of NSW State Super sharply reduced its allocation to Australian equities in the second half of last year, and awarded its first ever international long/short mandates to AQR Capital Management and Axa Rosenberg Investment Management.

State Super’s trustee, the SAS Trustee Corporation (STC), has just released its asset allocation snapshot for December 31, 2006, which reveals a 34.7 per cent exposure to domestic equities, down from 37.5 per cent six months earlier. The international equities exposure rose from 27.9 per cent to 28.6 per cent, partly explained by new offshore long/short mandates with AQR ($271 million) and Axa Rosenberg ($269 million). Emerging markets mandates of $95 million apiece with Lazard Asset Management and Trilogy Global Advisors also appeared on STC’s external manager list for the first time. State Super’s exposure to alternative assets also rose sharply from 4.5 per cent to 6 per cent over the second half of 2006, highlighted by new allocations to a GMO ‘absolute return’ fund ($200 million) and an EG Funds Management ‘value-added property’ mandate ($2 million). The chief executive of STC, Don McLean, declined an opportunity to comment on State Super’s investment strategy, which since last July has been advised by Frontier Investment Consulting (which replaced InTech at that time).