Australian pension fund plans £8bn UK spree

Australia’s largest pension fund is planning to pour £23bn into the UK and Europe over the next five years. AustralianSuper, which manages around £124bn on behalf of 2.5m members, expects to double its UK assets from £7bn to more than £15bn by 2026. The planned purchases would keep the weighting of UK and European assets as a proportion of the fund’s total steady. But with its global assets predicted to swell to more than A$570bn by 2026, AustralianSuper said cash available to spend offshore would expand significantly. More than half of the fund is already invested offshore, including in major UK assets such as Heathrow Airport, Peel Ports and London’s King’s Cross redevelopment project. “There are strong opportunities across real estate, infrastructure and direct private credit in Europe and the UK,” said AustralianSuper’s head of investments, international, Damian Moloney. “We are looking at a variety of opportunities for high-quality sustainable mixed-use real estate investments that are or can be carbon-neutral.” The fund is also looking at investing in social housing in the UK. The FT (£)