What we invest in

We’ve published a list of investments since 2016. In fact, we were the first super fund to do so. 

Since 2021, government regulations have required that we disclose our investment holdings in a CSV file format. However, we also provide our holdings in a more reader-friendly, web-based format – including an additional look-through of holdings.

Our holdings are published within 90 days of 30 June and 31 December each year. This lag helps us minimise the chance of a negative impact on returns by reducing the risk of revealing market-sensitive information.

When reading through our investment holdings disclosures, there are some important concepts to keep in mind.

• Our exposure to an investment may be listed as 0.00%
  This usually occurs if the value of the investment is less than 0.005% of the investment option. Where we've provided a percentage (%) of an investment option, we've rounded the value to 2 decimal places.


• Some investments may be listed with a zero-dollar amount
  This can occur when an investment has been sold recently but not yet removed from the holdings list.


• Negative values may appear for some derivatives
  Derivatives include options like currency and interest rate swaps. They are used for hedging and other purposes.

• Negative values may also appear next to some cash holdings
  Our internal cash team may complete transactions in foreign currencies. This is for cash management purposes. When this happens, it can appear as a negative balance against non-Australian Dollar exposures.
  
  
• Infrastructure and property valuations are disclosed as a value range
Because infrastructure and property are unlisted assets, their valuations are more market-sensitive. Reporting a value range, rather than a specific dollar amount, helps us get the best price for the asset and reduces risk of revealing market-sensitive information.

Different types of assets serve different roles in each investment option. When you look at the investment holdings list, you might wonder why some assets are placed in certain categories.

Derivatives

A derivative is a type of financial contract or agreement. The value of a derivative comes from the underlying asset. These assets might be shares, bonds, currencies, futures or other types of assets. When you invest in a derivative, you don’t own the underlying asset, but rather a contract. The value of that contract goes up or down depending on what happens to the underlying asset.

You may see derivatives listed under different asset classes. We use them to invest quickly in assets or asset classes without physically owning them. 

Derivatives help us: 

1. maintain investment exposure in a cost-effective way and
2. manage investment risk and enhance returns.

Cash and fixed income

Cash includes government and company securities like deposits, bank bills and short-term bonds. It’s used to fund switches in or out of investment options and to facilitate transactions within the portfolios, especially in the single asset class DIY Mix options.

Fixed income refers to investments like government or corporate bonds. These investments pay investors regular interest payments over a set period. They're commonly used to provide steady income, reduce risk and diversify investment portfolios.

Fixed income holdings may appear under the Australian Shares and International Shares options. This is because these options invest a small percentage of each portfolio in cash. This cash percentage provides a liquidity buffer when:

1. members switch between investment options, or
2. payments are made to members in retirement accounts, or
3. we buy and sell shares in the portfolio. 

Our definition of cash includes short-term securities such as deposits, bank bills and short-term bonds that are issued by governments and companies. Although each of these securities meets our definition of cash, we are required by regulation to report some these securities (short-term bonds, for example) as fixed income.

You may also see equities in the Diversified Fixed Interest DIY Mix investment option. This is because corporate actions or company activity can temporarily change how an asset is classified.

Private equity

Private equity refers to unlisted investments in private companies. Our private equity investments can be found by filtering for Unlisted Equity. 

We disclose our private equity investments in two ways:

1. We list each of our investments with their dollar value and/or percentage weighting under the Externally Managed and Internally Managed filters. This is a regulatory requirement.
2. We also provide additional information on the underlying companies in our externally managed portfolios. You can find the list of these underlying companies under the Private Equity Investments filter, under Unlisted Equity.

Private equity investments aren't listed on the public market. That means their valuations are more market-sensitive and revealing them could negatively impact returns. In addition, some of our private equity managers haven't provided us with permission to disclose details of the investments they make on our behalf. They aren't currently required to disclose this information. But we're working with them to increase the amount of information available for members.

Private debt

Private debt is money that businesses borrow from private lenders. It's usually in the form of customised loans. We report private debt investments as one combined total, instead of listing them separately. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has provided temporary relief for us to report in this way.

Full list of private debt counterparties