This Month
This company says it can make plant-based ‘meat’ taste better
Nourish Ingredients, backed by Hostplus and HK billionaire Li Ka-shing, says its breakthrough can reignite growth in a sector where M&A is on the rise.
- Simon Evans
How to turn your super portfolio green
Forty years after Australian Ethical opened its doors, the $3.5 trillion superannuation sector is scrambling to launch and grow similar ethically invested products. What is on the market and best for investors?
- Hannah Wootton
Inside the ultra-high-pressure world of Airwallex
The Australian payments giant grew out of a Melbourne coffee shop almost a decade ago and became a global player. But is it ready for prime time?
- Lucas Baird and Jonathan Shapiro
September
Australia’s five most powerful tech leaders for 2023
From a funding winter to cyberattacks and the rise of artificial intelligence, it has been a big year for Australian techies.
- Paul Smith
- Exclusive
- Superannuation
Big industry super unites in political lobbying power play
A new “big eight” of superannuation funds will dominate the $3.5 trillion retirement savings system with a lobby group dominated by Labor heavyweights.
- Joanna Mather and Hannah Wootton
August
The surprise heavyweights in venture-capital land
Hostplus and Aware Super got a payday when Blackbird cashed in some of its share of Canva. But venture capital faces a fight to keep super money flowing.
- Jessica Sier
Super funds cash in as Blackbird sells down Canva stake
The company has been under scrutiny after local venture capital firms followed US investors in marking down their valuations by almost $US15 billion.
- Paul Smith
July
The two things Millennials and Gen Z need to watch in their super
It’s a new financial year, and if you’re a young person reviewing your retirement savings, there are things you need to know.
- Lucy Dean
The asset class that delivered the best super returns last year
Research house Chant West has also revealed that a tiny industry super fund delivered the best returns last year out of funds oriented to growth assets.
- Hannah Wootton
- Exclusive
- Funding
Hostplus rejects valuation worries with another $100m for start-ups
Superannuation giant Hostplus has poured a fresh $100m investment into the Australian operations of IP Group, which backs start-ups that spin out of universities.
- Paul Smith
APRA to get tough on super funds’ unlisted asset valuations
A review led by Nicholas Moore found the watchdog had been asleep at the wheel on managing the risk of inflated valuations to members’ savings.
- Hannah Wootton and Paul Smith
Top 10 super funds for 2022-23 revealed
The best-performing funds for the short term had heavy exposure to equities, with rallying tech and global stocks driving returns.
- Hannah Wootton
Hostplus tops super sector for illiquid asset exposure
But its investment chief Sam Sicilia says this does not pose liquidity concerns given how young its hospitality worker member base is.
- Hannah Wootton
June
The $100b fund manager raised on Gough Whitlam and the ABC
Probably Australia’s most successful superannuation investor, Sam Sicilia of Hostplus, easily reconciles a career in markets with the Labor values of his youth.
- Aleks Vickovich
- Exclusive
- Innovation
Why Larry Marshall turned down a job extension at CSIRO
When Silicon Valley veteran Larry Marshall breezed in to run Australia’s national science agency in 2015, he was the very definition of a disrupter. Now he says it is time to go.
- Paul Smith
Hostplus shuts property, infrastructure funds as valuations plummet
The $100 billion super fund’s decision comes amid a reckoning over inflated valuations of Australia’s commercial property sector and warnings from APRA.
- Hannah Wootton
- Exclusive
- Venture capital
AirTree, Blackbird look to extend VC funds as 10-year deadline looms
Australia’s biggest VC firms are looking to extend the deadline for paying out investors on their first funds due to falling valuations.
- Jessica Sier and Emma Rapaport
Superannuation funds’ boycott of PwC grows
Five industry super funds representing more than $750 billion in Australians’ retirement savings have now frozen new contracts with PwC, and there are more on the cards.
- Hannah Wootton
May
‘Next Cochlear’ stock surges after heart device breakthrough
Shares in ASX-listed EBR Systems are up 10 per cent following a successful trial of its tiny cardiovascular device, which could pave the way for US FDA approval.
- Tess Bennett
- Exclusive
- Commercial real estate
Nuveen snags $284m in super fund money for US property
Australian super funds are looking to diversify their real estate holdings as weakness hits traditional mainstays of office and retail.
- Michael Bleby
