POWERED BY MOMENTUM MEDIA
Super funds to be probed on ASX ownership
Institutional funds will be put under the spotlight by a parliamentary committee on the risks of their high ownership of the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).
The House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics inquiry into the implications of capital concentration and common ownership in Australia would look to investigate banks, superannuation funds, investments funds, and hedge funds.
Committee chair, Tim Wilson, said the inquiry would “shine a bright light under the hood” of the ASX ownership and would ensure the law, regulations, and regulators would address challenges of the future so it could empower citizens and not "organised capital".
“This inquiry is urgent – there is already high concentration of ownership of ASX listed companies by an increasingly small number of ‘mega funds’ and that trajectory will increase,” he said.
“The House Economics Committee has been asking regulators about these risks for nearly a year. Recently the chair of the ACCC [Australian Competition and Consumer Commission] informed the committee common ownership posed threats to competition when it hits 10%, yet some have already hit 30%.
“We don’t want a stock exchange where a handful of ‘mega funds’ make all the decisions, and ordinary investors are locked out and higher costs are paid by Australians. Some ‘mega funds’ have already said that as their ownership increases they’d de-list public companies.
“Common ownership’s flow-on risks higher prices and collusion, corporates imposing public policy agendas while bypassing democracy, and disempowering ordinary investors. The law shouldn’t empower capital over citizens and that’s what we’ll be inquiring into.”
The inquiry was open to submissions until 13 September, 2021.
Recommended for you
Economic growth was weaker than expected, once again highlighting an economy largely sustained by population growth and government spending.
In this latest edition, Anna Shelley, CIO at AMP, shares the fund’s approach to current market conditions and where it continues to uncover key opportunities.
The mega fund has announced a $2.2 billion investment in a leading data centre platform, bringing its global real assets portfolio to nearly $60 billion.
In this latest edition, Australian Retirement Trust’s head of global real assets Michael Weaver explains the fund’s approach to finding new opportunities as it surpasses $300 billion in funds under management.
TOP PERFORMING FUNDS
ACS FIXED INT - AUSTRALIA/GLOBAL BOND
Fund name
3y(%)pa
1
Spire Oaktree Opportunities XI Second Close
32.68 3 y p.a(%)
2
DomaCom Lot 21 Chellaston Road Munno Para West SA 5115 Australia
31.72 3 y p.a(%)
3
Spire Oaktree Opportunities XI First Close USD
31.36 3 y p.a(%)
4
Fidante Credit Suisse Global Private Equity
29.60 3 y p.a(%)
5
Global X GlobalX FANG+ ETF
27.64 3 y p.a(%)
