State Super acquires stake in advisory firm

One of Australia’s largest super funds has acquired an equity stake in the institutional investment advisory firm.

State Super – with over 80,000 members and $38 billion in assets – has announced that it has acquired a 23 per cent equity stake in Frontier Advisors.

The partnership includes a seat for the super fund on Frontier’s board, while aligning the NSW public sector superannuation fund with other major shareholders such as Cbus, AustralianSuper, HESTA, and First Super.

Additionally, the acquisition will facilitate the movement of State Super’s investment team into Frontier Advisors to create an industry-first independent chief investment officer service.

State Super CEO John Livanas said the partnership between State Super and Frontier Advisors aims to provide members with “continuity and security” through the retention of access to the technical skills of the fund’s specialist team.

“We have a great team of professionals managing our portfolio, and as State Super enters into a new transition phase, we’ve devised a solution to retain this valuable investment team so members who’ve entrusted their retirement savings to us receive a continuity of service,” Livanas said.

According to State Super, this solution is set to deliver more career growth opportunities and professional development for its investment team, while ensuring continuity for staff and allowing them to remain focused on members.

“For the fund, it will be a seamless transition with our innovative solution that enables current advisers and investors to remain operating exactly as they have for over a decade, while providing staff a wealth of new opportunities,” Livanas said.

“Our members report a high level of satisfaction, and we are pleased that we can secure this proven capability for State Super and our members into the future.”

Frontier CEO Andrew Polson said this arrangement guarantees the fund’s “decumulation investment expertise” will remain “unconflicted and [will continue] to serve the best interest of its members”.

“Frontier now has added capability and can provide investors with the benefit of retaining control over their own investment policy, strategy and portfolio construction while accessing institutional grade end-to-end investment services and to maintain our unconflicted advice model in the process,” Polson said.