AustralianSuper opens London investment office

AustralianSuper, Australia’s largest private pension fund, has opened an investment office in London.

The office has been operating since the summer and is the only location in Europe where staff from the Melbourne-based pension fund are based.

“AustralianSuper does have staff based in London as a result of its increasing involvement in direct investments, particularly global property and infrastructure deals,” confirmed AustralianSuper spokesman and head of external relations, Stephen McMahon.

The pension manager currently employs two people in the office, including Trish Curry, who will lead its activities.

AustralianSuper is a profit for member organisation that has more than A$100 billion ($75.5 billion; €67.5 billion) of assets under management. The fund has more than 2.1 million members drawn from over 220,000 business. It manages the retirement funds of one in ten working Australians.

According to Infrastructure Investor Research & Analytics, AustralianSuper has a current allocation of 10 percent to infrastructure. The super fund is active in direct investment as it aims to manage around 35 percent of its investment portfolio internally by the year 2018.