POWERED BY MOMENTUM MEDIA
Equipsuper-Vision Super merger confirmed, but much work still to do
The Equipsuper and Vision Super merger may have been signed off by the funds’ boards, but there is still much work to be done on turning the two $4.8 billion funds into one entity.
The funds plan to bring together operations in February 2012, with Equipsuper’s assets to be transferred into the funds’ pooled superannuation trust in September this year.
But after assets are rolled over, the merged fund will then have to make decisions regarding consolidation of administration, insurance and investment consultant mandates — all of which are currently through different providers.
Equipsuper currently has administration provided by Mercer, investment consultancy with JANA and most aspects of insurance with Hannover Life.
Meanwhile, Vision Super is administered internally, uses Frontier for investment consultancy and is with CommInsure for insurance.
The final shape of the new organisation will also not be revealed until closer to the merger is completed, with the new chief executive of the fund not yet known.
However, it is known that the board will initially consist of all 17 board members of both funds, but will then be whittled down to nine once assets are rolled over in September.
A spokesperson for Equipsuper said the final board would be largely a hybrid of the two current boards.
It will consist of an independent chair, along with two member directors from the Australian Services Union, two elected member directors, one water industry appointee, one Municipal Association of Victoria appointee and two employer directors from those not already represented.
It is also known that the investment team of the merged fund will consolidate under Equipsuper’s current chief investment officer Michael Strachan. But it will be some time after funds are pooled in September before decisions are made on investment strategies.
The name of the newly merged fund is also still being decided, according to a spokesperson for the funds.
He said that while there was a possibility of retaining one of the fund’s names, they were leaning towards a new name to be made public in February next year.
AUTHOR
Ashleigh McIntyre
Recommended for you
A major super fund has defended its use of private markets in a submission to ASIC, asserting that appropriate governance and information-sharing practices are present in both public and private markets.
A member body representing some prominent wealth managers is concerned super funds’ dominance is sidelining small companies in capital markets.
Earlier this month, several Australian superannuation funds fell victim to credential stuffing attacks, which saw a small number of members lose more than $500,000.
Small- to medium-sized funds have become collateral damage in an "imperfect" model for super industry levies, a financial institution has said.
TOP PERFORMING FUNDS
ACS FIXED INT - AUSTRALIA/GLOBAL BOND
Fund name
3y(%)pa
1
DomaCom DFS Mortgage
93.34 3 y p.a(%)
2
Global X GlobalX FANG+ ETF
37.15 3 y p.a(%)
3
GAM LSA Private Shares AU I
33.96 3 y p.a(%)
4
Fidante Credit Suisse Global Private Equity
29.68 3 y p.a(%)
5
Plato Global Alpha A
28.73 3 y p.a(%)
