Australia’s Future Fund looks to tangibles

The A$72.9 billion ($78.9 billion) Australian Future Fund will ramp up its tangible asset investments this quarter to more than 14.5 per cent of the fund with a long-term goal of lifting that to 25 per cent, a spokesman said.

In its recent quarterly update tangible asset investments in property, infrastructure and timberland made up more than 10 per cent of the fund, but is expected that this will rise to 14.5 per cent of the fund by the end of June, the spokesman said.

On its current size this would mean investments in these assets will top more than $11.3 billion billion by June.

In its quarterly update the Board of Guardians said they would continue to build towards its target asset allocation, with a focus on private equity in addition to property and infrastructure.

The Future Fund achieved a 3.9 per cent return for the quarter ending March 31 (excluding Telstra), giving a return for the first nine months of the financial year of 11.7 per cent.

Despite scaling back its investment in the Telco giant, its Telstra portfolio also returned a surprisingly robust 8.2 per cent for the quarter, to claw back a 0.2 per cent return for the first nine months of the financial year.

Sponsored Content

Global equities in developed markets make up the biggest proportion of its investment (22.7 per cent) with debt securities the next largest at 19.5 per cent.

On a yearly comparison, the Future Fund has maintained the proportion of its overall investments in developed market equities. It has also boosted its alternative assets investment from 12.3 per cent to 16.3 per cent and shed its cash holdings from 16.5 per cent to 11 per cent.

Including its Telstra holdings the fund is now worth more than $80 billion and has averaged a 5.3 per cent return per annum since launching in 2006.

Asset Owner:Future Fund

One response to “Australia’s Future Fund looks to tangibles”

Leave a Comment

Sort content by

How to estimate the equity risk premium

Given the importance of equity risk premium, it is surprising how haphazard the estimation of equity risk premiums remains in practice. This paper by Aswath Damodaran at the New York University Stern School of Business examines a number of different approaches to determining the equity risk premium and why different approaches yield different values. It

Are there enough credit opportunities to go around?

Investors are all talking about the same thing –that alpha will come from selective opportunities and implementation techniques within sectors, and the next year will be less about strategic or beta bets. Specifically credit opportunities remain front and centre of the collective investors’ radar. Managers, it turns out, are all also talking about the same

Integrating ESG in private equity

The PRI has launched a guide for ESG integration among general partners in private equity,  looking at ESG within a GP organisation and within its investment process. The guide provides suggestions on how to incorporate ESG factors into ownership practices and processes, including seeking appropriate disclosure from these companies on ESG risks and opportunities and

What consolidation means for the AP funds

The five Swedish AP buffer funds will be reduced to three, a new responsible body will be set up to formulate long-term return targets and a reference portfolio, and limits on unlisted investments will be lifted under the new plan put forward by the Swedish Government. These are the findings of The Pension Group, which

Predicting equity returns with rising rates

The impact of higher rates on equity returns is a concern for investors and to some extent an unknown. But by applying the concept a threshold correlation, as done with bond portfolios with a duration targeting framework, it is possible to better understand the complex interactions between equity returns and interest rate movements. The latest

Funds must embrace data to win

Superannuation funds in Australia are not putting enough emphasis on data and technology as a tool to strengthen member engagement or as a platform for their business. There is plenty they can learn from Rayid Ghani, chief scientist for the Obama for America 2012 campaign, who was the keynote at the Conference of Major Superannuation Funds

Previous