Australian Retirement Trust has completed a successor fund transfer with Woolworths Group and Endeavour Group, and flagged that more transactions are to come. The deal takes ART’s total pool of assets to more than $260 billion.
Australian Retirement Trust has completed a successor fund transfer with Woolworths Group and Endeavour Group, and flagged that more transactions are to come.
The Woolworths and Endeavour transaction is the second largest fund transfer ART has undertaken to date, bringing in an additional 25,000 members and $4.3 billion into the fund. It takes the Brisbane-headquartered fund’s total funds under administration to more than $260 billion and total member numbers to more than 2.3 million.
In addition, a number of further transfers are expected to be completed this financial year, including Commonwealth Bank Group Super, AvSuper and Alcoa Super.
ART chief commercial officer Dave Woodall said: “At Australian Retirement Trust, our vision is to be Australia’s most chosen and trusted retirement partner, and our recent mergers signal the confidence from corporate Australia in what we offer.
“We’re very proud that major Australian employers trust us to manage the retirement outcomes of their employees today and into the future.
“We have a very experienced in-house transition team, allowing us to deliver a positive member experience during the transition and provide the employer with the opportunity to refresh their value offering for their employees.”
ART chief executive Bernard Reilly has said the fund — born out of the mega-merger of Queensland’s QSuper and Sunsuper — wanted to become a major player in corporate mandates.
“Mergers and transitions are just one aspect of our growth channels, which also include pursuing growth through member direct and retail financial advisers,” he said in March.
“We will only pursue growth opportunities where they’re in the best interests of our members, and we believe that the benefits of scale that our current growth pipeline provides us will help us seek out larger investment opportunities that were previously unattainable, deliver enhanced products and services to our members and drive down costs.”
