This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
THE $30 billion superannuation fund, AustralianSuper, has tipped $500 million into the QIC Property Fund, in a move to reweight its portfolio into the retail property market.
AustralianSuper is one of the largest industry superannuation funds in Australia with $30 billion in funds under management. It has invested $500 million in QIC Global Real Estate’s QIC Property Fund, one of the best performing unlisted property trusts in the country.
This is the first major foray back into property for a super fund post Global Financial Crisis, after many funds made the decision to offload property investments in a bid to reweight their overall portfolio which had been decimated by the weaker equities market.
The investment in QPF will make up 15.2% of AustralianSuper’s total property investments, based on the portfolio configuration as at December 31 2009, and will increase AustralianSuper’s Balanced Option property sector exposure from 10% to 11.7%; and total fund exposure from 9.0% to 10.6%.
QPF is the owner of several major regional shopping centres assets including Castle Towers shopping centre in Sydney’s north-western suburbs, Robina Town Centre on the Gold Coast, Watergardens in Melbourne’s western suburbs and the Canberra Centre in the ACT.
The fund also has exposure to major capital city CBD office markets.
AustralianSuper deputy CEO and chief investment officer Mark Delaney said the investment represented a reweighting of AustralianSuper’s core property portfolio to ensure appropriate allocation in the lucrative regional retail market, building on the strength of its long-term retail property investment strategy.
“The opportunity to invest in a portfolio of retail assets of this quality is extremely rare and we are delighted to be able to increase our holdings in the sector, particularly in regional shopping centres, which have provided high relative returns with low volatility over the past 20 years,” he added.
QIC’s head of global real estate Robert Carter said the investment is a strong alignment between AustralianSuper’s investment objectives and QPF’s long-term growth strategy.
“QIC Global Real Estate has a track record of delivering stable returns from its portfolio of properties since the commencement of real estate investment activities in 1989.
“The assets in the QPF have predictable income streams and significant potential for further growth,” he concluded.
Australian Property Journal
