Largest Australia Pension Fund Says Now Is the Time to Buy Private Assets

Australia’s largest pension fund wants to put more money into private-market investments and will further boost its exposure to overseas assets.

“Now is a better time to put money into private markets than two or three years ago, when valuations were more expensive and deals were quite scarce,” AustralianSuper Chief Investment Officer Mark Delaney said on Bloomberg TV in Melbourne on Monday.

“The inability for a lot of US pension plans to recycle capital has meant that private deal opportunities are increasing because they are not competing as heavily as what they were previously,” he said.

Delaney said the A$315 billion ($207 billion) fund is looking to increase its offshore asset allocation from about 50% to two-thirds of its portfolio. The focus of its New York office will be on private markets, particularly in infrastructure, private equity and private debt.

The country’s A$3.7 trillion pension industry — the world’s fourth largest — is the fastest-growing retirement savings pool in the world and is forecast to more than triple in size to A$13.6 trillion by 2048, according to Mercer.

“There are opportunities to deploy money in private markets which have been starved for cash, both private equity and infrastructure to some extent and even some private debt,” Delaney said. Within those markets, “the pricing hasn’t gone up as much as listed markets and they represent pretty good opportunities,” he added.

 

 

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