Spirit Super will forgo its brand name but retain elements of its fund logo under its marriage to CareSuper in what the funds have described as a “true merger of equals”.
As the two funds look to officially merge from 1 November this year, the unified entity will retain CareSuper’s name due to “strong brand recognition”, notwithstanding Spirit Super’s larger assets under management.
In an update on Tuesday, the current chair of CareSuper and the appointed chair of the merged fund, Linda Scott, said both funds have chosen to operate under the CareSuper name because the branding has been in market since 1986.
“Elements of the Spirit Super brand identity will be retained to highlight our shared national heritage and member focus, including Spirit Super’s distinctive logo which enjoys strong and positive recognition amongst its membership,” Scott said.
Spirit Super was created in 2021 following the merger of MTAA Super and Tasplan.
The combined fund will have more than $50 billion in assets under management, marking its entry as a new large fund within the increasingly consolidated superannuation system.
In addition to previously announced appointments including Scott and Jason Murray – the Spirit Super CEO who will lead the new fund in the same capacity – the update confirmed that CareSuper chief investment officer Suzanne Branton will lead the new investment operations.
Branton has been with CareSuper for close to a decade, joining initially as general manager of investments after eight years at Equip Super.
Spirit Super’s current CIO Ross Barry won’t take up any role in the new fund.
“I’m proud to have been chosen to lead a combined fund which will have a laser focus on our members and delivering them great value and excellent customer service,” Murray said.
A few more so-called “mergers of equals” currently in train include Vision Super and Active Super, which will create a $32 billion fund; and Mine Super and TWUSuper, which have combined assets of more than $20 billion.
But other funds have sought to achieve scale by merging with much larger peers, such as the $9 billion Qantas Super which recently chose to merge with the $300 billion Australian Retirement Trust.
Industry experts predict that merger activities are likely to slow down from 2024 onwards.
“There was a steady stream of mergers before 2021, and the introduction of the Your Future Your Super performance test fast-tracked that merger activity, with a number of funds forced to merge after they failed the test,” Chant West senior investment research manager Mano Mohankumar told Investment Magazine at the beginning of the year.
“Now that the performance test in its current form has been in place for three years, we expect very few other funds will fail the test, as those that are close to failing are managing their investments to ensure they don’t fail the test.”
Other executive appointments in the new CareSuper include Will Sadler as chief risk officer, Sam Horskins as chief financial officer, Ningning Lyons as chief strategy officer, Kathleen Crawford as chief operating officer, Robyn Judd as chief people officer, Jean-Luc Ambrosi as chief member officer and Simon Reiter as chief technology officer.
The new CareSuper will manage its own administration, using Iress platforms for its registry system and digital member engagement and mobile app.
It will have around 571,000 member accounts with an average account balance of $86,000, and only 7 per cent of its membership in retirement (pension accounts), based on APRA’s annual fund-level data as at 30 June 2023.
