The $12 billion Sunsuper has struck a deal to co-invest on an ongoing basis with Macquarie Bank.
The multi-industry fund has allocated an initial $150 million mandate to the Macquarie Special Situations Fund to access private equity and investment banking transactions worldwide. “We are investing alongside the Macquarie balance sheet,”; David Hartley, Sunsuper chief investment officer, said. The mandate would be invested in numerous transactions – wherever Macquarie “finds opportunities around the world” – and was appealing since it would not be confined to any asset class, Hartley said. These investments must not be strategic stakeholdings but “returns-focused”. The fund has also partnered with investment firm The Sentient Group to buy 11.8 per cent of Australian geothermal energy company Geodynamics, a transaction that would see the duo become cornerstone investors in the company. The acquisition will proceed pending a vote among Geodynamics shareholders later this month. If the deal is approved, Sunsuper and Sentient will buy 25 million shares at $1.50 each and will gain 12.5 million placement options that can be exercised at $2 until February 29, 2009. The co-investors will also be able to appoint a non-executive director to the Geodynamics board. The Sentient Group was founded by Peter Cassidy, formerly an AMP Financial Planning executive, in 2000. According to a biography of Cassidy on the Spectrax website, an IT and ‘mobility solutions’ software firm of which he is chairman, Sentient manages the $168 million Global Resources Fund and the private assets of the Qantas Superannuation Plan.
Future Fund chief investment officer Ben Samild said that FY24 has been a great year for alpha creation, thanks to strong returns in equities and, unusually, across multiple hedge fund strategies all at the same time. He reflected the past few years have been “a difficult time to be an asset owner and to generate positive returns for risk assets” but the Future Fund is tracking well of its long-term mandate.
Simon Hoyle and Darcy SongSeptember 4, 2024
