Over 1.4 million members of Australian Retirement Trust (ART) will transition into a new investment strategy as the fund pivots to a high-growth default offering in the financial year 2024–25.
From 1 July 2024, the fund has announced it will invest members under the age of 50 into a MySuper investment strategy that is equivalent to the ART High Growth option.
The option, which sits in the SuperRatings SR50 Growth Index, is ART’s “strongest performing strategy over the past 10 years”, the fund said.
It holds almost 85 per cent in growth assets, which include Australian and international shares, unlisted assets, as well as alternatives such as infrastructure, property, and private equity. Around 15.25 per cent of the option is allocated to defensive assets.
It has returned roughly 9 per cent per annum over 10 years to 31 March 2024 and saw its second consecutive year of double-digit returns for FY23–24, delivering 11.3 per cent.
Meanwhile, the fund’s balanced option, too, has seen high single-digit returns of 9.9 per cent.
ART chief investment officer Ian Patrick credits strong international and Australian equities as primary drivers for this outperformance.
“We’ve seen robust and consistent outperformance across the board,” he said.
Looking ahead, Patrick observed a more “constructive” outlook in the current investment environment for delivering on real return targets for members after recent decades of low interest rates and a challenging outlook for long-term super returns.
“Of course nothing is certain, but there is some comfort to take from this,” he said.
The $260 billion fund previously unveiled a streamlined suite of choice investment options across superannuation and retirement products in March, which will now commence in the new financial year.
At the time, ART chief of retirement Kathy Vincent said the fund engaged with members, advisers, and employers in designing the suite.
“When we asked our members what they wanted most in a new investment menu, they told us performance, fees, sustainable investing, and the ability to choose the right level of risk were top priority – all of which remained front of mind when we worked to streamline these choice investment options,” Vincent said.
Commenting on the launch, ART CIO Patrick said the expanded suite will give members “freedom to awaken their super” by choosing from 15 options that “cover a broad range of objectives and investment time frames to meet their goals and life stages.”
Australia’s industry super funds have come under fire for distorting equity markets and inflating Commonwealth Bank’s share price, with investment chiefs warning that their size and benchmark-driven behaviour are fuelling mispricing across the ASX.
The sovereign wealth fund has acquired a near-10 per cent stake in Transgrid, the operator of a high-voltage electricity network, in a move it says aligns with its risk-return objectives and long-term investment strategy.
Rest has appointed its new chief investment officer, who previously served as Qantas Super’s CEO for nearly a decade.
AustralianSuper has reinvested in Whitehaven Coal, describing the move as “an investment opportunity” aimed at creating value for its members.