POWERED BY MOMENTUM MEDIA
Media Super courting corporate media fund
Media Super is in the initial stages of a merger with a corporate media fund, according to Media Super chief executive Ross Martin.
While he was reluctant to disclose the identity of the corporate fund, Martin said the merger made sense because many employees of large media companies were also members of Media Super.
The merger would most likely take place in 2012, considering the complexity and lengthy lead times involved, Martin said. He added that Media Super did not take mergers lightly, and it was not something that the fund would be rushing into.
"We are committed to growing our fund, but remaining within the media, printing, entertainment and arts industry. We're not out there just to take funds for the sake of taking funds. We want to remain a niche player in our market," Martin said.
In addition to increasing its membership base through a potential merger, Media Super is also looking to improve its client retention, at a time when members leaving to form self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs) is becoming a growing problem for industry funds.
"We're employing an outside consultant to do member surveys on a number of issues. We're targeting members who have transferred to SMSFs - the reasons why, and what we can do to stop that or improve our member offering," Martin said.
He said his instinct was that SMSFs were rising in popularity because people had responded badly to negative superannuation returns during the global financial crisis, and were setting up SMSFs with the majority of the funds in term deposits.
This might seem attractive at the time, Martin said, but over the long-term, funds like Media Super provide a better return.
"We're about to issue an annual report, and despite what's happened over the last few years, our 20-year return is about 8.8 per cent," he said.
Recommended for you
AMP’s strong 2024–25 returns were anything but a fluke – they were the product of a carefully recalibrated investment strategy that began several years ago, when the fund first became truly cognisant of its shortcomings.
ASIC is “considering what options” it has to hold super trustees to account for including the failed schemes on their platforms, according to its deputy chair.
Vanguard Super has reported strong returns across most of its investment options, attributed to a “low-cost, index-based approach”.
The fund has achieved double-digit returns amid market volatility, reinforcing the value of long-term investment strategies for its members.
TOP PERFORMING FUNDS
ACS FIXED INT - AUSTRALIA/GLOBAL BOND
Fund name
3y(%)pa
1
DomaCom 465 Calder Road Calder
99.46 3 y p.a(%)
2
DomaCom DFS Mortgage
95.46 3 y p.a(%)
3
Global X 21Shares Bitcoin ETF
78.55 3 y p.a(%)
4
BetaShares Crypto Innovators ETF
50.39 3 y p.a(%)
5
Global X GlobalX FANG+ ETF
47.50 3 y p.a(%)
