The 15 Australian superannuation funds that are ranked inside the top 300 global pension funds grew at a faster rate than the funds of any other country over the five years to December 2011.
While markets performance provided headwinds for Australian funds the major drivers of the improved positions were merger and acquisitions activity and strong contributions, according to the P&I/Towers Watson global 300 research, conducted in conjunction with US investment newspaper Pensions & Investments.
The three biggest contributing mergers were First State Super's merger with Health Super, AustralianSuper's merger with Westscheme and the formation of Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation from the Australian Reward Investment Alliance, MilitarySuper and the Defence Force Retirement and Death Benefits Authority, according to Martin Goss, senior investment consultant at Towers Watson in Australia.
This is because funds that were already inside the top 300 were boosted by an additional $8 billion in funds from outside the top 300, he said.
The other major driver came from strong contributions, with more mature funds in other countries more affected by outflows than the relatively young Australian sector, he said.
Overall growth in assets for the 300 funds in 2011 was just under 2 per cent, down from 11 per cent in 2010 and was the lowest growth since 2003, aside from the 13 per cent decline in 2008.
Total assets for the 300 funds reached US$12.7 trillion, with the 15 Australian funds combining for US$394 billion. The top 300 pension funds now represent over 46 per cent of global pension fund assets, the research found.
First State Super's merger with Health Super helped it jump 57 places from 154 to 97, and Australia's largest pension fund, The Future Fund, moved up two spots to 33.
The other Australian funds in the top 300 are
- AustralianSuper (68)
- QSuper (89)
- State Super NSW (102)
- UniSuper (111)
- Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation (137)
- Rest (161)
- HESTA (174)
- Sunsuper (179)
- Cbus (184)
- Super SA (241)
- GESB (263); and
- Telstra Super (280).
