Hostplus, the A$34 billion ($25.2 billion) Melbourne-based superannuation fund for Australian hospitality employees, topped Australia's latest super industry rankings with a 12.5% return for its balanced fund for the 12 months through June 30, according to SuperRatings, a Sydney-based research, consulting and ratings firm for Australia's superannuation industry.
AustSafe Super, an A$2.5 billion, Brisbane-based fund, which recently announced plans to merge with A$55 billion Sunsuper, came in second, with an 11.4% gain, followed by AustralianSuper, the A$140 billion, Melbourne-based heavyweight with 11.1%
The rest of the top 10 performers were tightly clustered in a range between 10.9% and 10.5%.
Emily Martyn, corporate affairs lead with Hostplus, said in an email that the fund's focus on private markets and active management, and its relatively minor 2% weighting to diversified bonds, helped power its investment gains both for the year and for longer periods as well.
She noted that Hostplus' balanced fund ranked No. 1 in the one-, three-, five-, seven- and 15-year periods through June 30. For the 10 year period, although still top quartile, the fund ranked fifth – with a 7.4% return.
Hostplus targets allocations of 13% for direct property, 12% for infrastructure, 8% for credit, 6% for private equity and another 6% for other alternatives. Its allocations to publicly listed assets target 25% for Australian equities, 20% for international developed market equities and 8% for emerging market equities.