Australia

After a change in the rules allowed members to withdraw almost A$16bn from their accounts, We investigate whether the sector is able to absorb the shock.

The A$52 billion industry superfund has set a target to achieve net zero emissions in its portfolio by 2050, with renewables set to play a major role in the transition.

Senator Jane Hume, assistant minister for superannuation, argues that the early super withdrawal scheme has gone ‘exceptionally well’ to date with only 0.5% of the whole system’s assets withdrawn.

Boe Pahari, who joined the Australian fund manager in 2010 and is currently global head of infrastructure equity, will succeed Adam Tindall on 1 July.

The vehicle follows the $3.3bn Macquarie Asia Infrastructure Fund II, which was the largest Asia-focused infrastructure fund ever raised at the time of its close in 2018.

The A$52bn superfund has replaced outgoing head of infra Diana Callebaut, who left to join NSW Treasury Corporation earlier this year.

‘We believe visibility and confidence in the recovery are unlikely before the end of 2020’, S&P Global Ratings said.

One of the new rules includes lowering the threshold that would trigger a FIRB review of foreign investment in infrastructure assets from A$275m to A$0.

Infrastructure assets are ‘particularly susceptible’ to community distrust and social licence should be considered at all stages of a project to combat this, says a report by think-tank Infrastructure Partnerships Australia.

The Australian fund manager agreed to a joint bid after a JV between ICG and OMERS built up a 17.61% stake in Zenith Energy and was likely to block PEP's solo bid.