Rest, one of Australia’s largest profit-to-member superannuation funds, has reached another milestone in the continued expansion of its internal investment capabilities, with its internally managed global equities team today investing its first dollars on behalf of members.
Rest today commenced funding of around $300 million into a mandate run by its Internal Global Equities team, with plans to progressively increase the allocation over the coming years.
Rest’s interim Co-Chief Investment Officer, Kiran Singh, says the milestone is the culmination of several years of extensive work to first identify and validate the opportunity, and then build an expert team.
“When we began to build this capability, we had a clear goal to deliver even more value to our 2 million members. By expanding our internal capabilities, we expect to continue delivering strong long-term performance at a lower cost,” says Mr Singh.
“We appointed Richard (Rick) Mercado in November 2023 to lead this function, and since then we have built an expert team of 5, including portfolio managers Fredy Hoh and Anna Chen. The team collectively has more than 80 years’ experience in financial markets and asset management.
“There has been considerable focus on developing the investment philosophy to underpin an active stock-picking strategy focused on high-quality overseas businesses.
“We have also undertaken further due diligence to confirm the mandate design is consistent with the opportunity initially identified at the whole-of-fund level and the team is operationally ready for live trading.”
Mr Singh says an internal global equities team provides additional benefits and insights to complement the work Rest does with its external managers.
“We believe that in-house management of global equities will not only deliver cost benefits for our members, but will also enhance the overall knowledge and expertise within our broader investments team,” says Mr Singh.
“By continuing to expand our internal expertise, we bring additional specialist knowledge and perspectives in house. This can add value more broadly to the integration of responsible investing in our whole-of-fund approach.
“An enriched exchange of ideas within our in-house management teams is instrumental in identifying additional investment opportunities and managing our risks more effectively. This ultimately positions the fund for further growth.”
Rest has a long history of internal management, with established capabilities across a range of asset classes, including cash, debt, Australian equities, infrastructure and property.
The fund’s approach to internalisation has been both gradual and deliberately measured, focusing on maintaining alignment with its whole-of-fund investment beliefs and risk management framework.
Rest has also enhanced its investment operations in recent years, including implementing a new portfolio management system and establishing an internal trading desk. These have also enabled fund to develop an internal global equities capability.
About Rest
Established in 1988, Rest is one of Australia’s largest profit-to-member superannuation funds, with around 2 million members and around $93 billion in funds under management as at 31 December 2024.
For more information, please visit our media centre or contact:
Michael Mills
Senior Manager, Communications – Media Relations
michael.mills@rest.com.au
m: 0428 499 722
Emma Kerswell
Senior Manager, Communications – Consumer and Content
emma.kerswell@rest.com.au
m: 0411 794 206
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