Insignia Financial boss Scott Hartley has got what every chief executive of a flagging business dreams of: a bidding war between two – and possibly more – private equity suitors for the business he’s in the process of reinvigorating. And, if a deal was to be done, how Insignia’s potential PE owner generates juicy profits out of its trustee arm will be a fascinating and instructive exercise to watch.
The $355 billion AustralianSuper has acquired a $1.4 billion European industrial and logistics portfolio, owned by OMERS real estate subsidiary Oxford Properties. The nation’s biggest fund is targeting a $7.5 billion valuation for the venture and $35 billion allocation in European and UK region before 2030, supported by its biggest international office in London with 121 employees.
Bain Capital has made a revised offer to take over ASX-listed wealth giant, Insignia Financial, matching the offer from CC Capital last week.
Since taking over the top job at the $44 billion Funds SA more than a year ago, chief executive John Piteo has ushered in an investment function overhaul and wrapped up an important stage of the fund’s five-year data transformation program. It pledges to recentre around investment performance and more efficient processes, as the “missing piece” has been found in incoming CIO Con Michalakis.
Almost every discussion about superannuation has become politically charged, even on esoteric issues such as historical trust deed amendments, over which Coalition Senator Andrew Bragg is accusing Cbus chair Wayne Swan of misleading the Senate.
The job of the chief investment officer has changed as super funds themselves have evolved in scope and scale. Today, the job is as much about managing a – sometimes global – asset management business as it is about managing investments. Staying focused on meeting the long-term objectives of fund members is an increasingly taxing task and, inevitably, all CIOs have a “use-by” date. For some, that day is closer than for others.
AI can add value in almost every part of the investment process, providing support in information gathering and analysis, sometimes from non-traditional and hard-to-access data sources, for portfolio management purposes. A recent CFA Institute Research and Policy Center featured case studies from NSW government pension fund State Super and other global asset owners.
Super funds REST and AMP Super have posted double-digit returns for their MySuper products, thanks to strong international equities performance.
ASX-listed wealth giant Insignia Financial has received a non-binding, indicative proposal from private equity firm CC Capital Partners.
As super fund CIOs return to work for 2025, all eyes are on two things: Donald Trump’s presidency, and inflation. But they’re not the only issues that will drive investment decisions and returns, and some of them may present an unfamiliar set of challenges for a cohort of investment professionals that has grown up experiencing a particular set of market and economic conditions.
Some believe that dual-class share structures represent worst-in-class corporate governance practice, undermining the widely accepted principle of one share, one vote. Dual-class shares continue to be the subject of much debate, as they give some investors voting rights that are vastly disproportionate to their economic interests. But as Australian asset owners increasingly invest abroad, most already have investments in big dual-class stocks like Meta Platforms, Alphabet, Apple and Berkshire Hathaway.
The government has established the Regulatory Initiatives Grid, aiming to better streamline and coordinate regulation in the financial sector to help build a more competitive, dynamic and productive economy.
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Investment Magazine provides in-depth, monthly analysis of trends and developments for all the businesses in which superannuation funds engage‚ including asset allocation, investment manager selection, custody and fund accounting, member administration, group insurance and compliance.
We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of this land upon which Conexus Financial sits, the Cadigal of the Eora Nation. We recognise their continuing connection and unique cultural and spiritual relationships to the land, waters and community. We pay our deepest respects to them and their culture, and to Elders both past and present.
