(Bloomberg) --
Aware Super will grow in coming years to be able to manage up to A$300 billion ($230 billion), a drive that could see Australia’s second-largest pension fund open offices in Europe and the U.S. in pursuit of more investments overseas.
The A$140 billion fund could double its staff across everything from investments to tax and compliance, said Chief Investment Officer Damian Graham (NYSE:GHM). The firm is trying to lower its cash pile by buying property and infrastructure assets, he said on a Bloomberg Inside Track webinar on Monday.
“We want to be prepared so that we’ve got the capacity and capabilities internally to be able to manage 200 or 300 billion dollars, and that does suggest we will need to be sourcing more of our investments around the world,” Graham said. “We would imagine it’s a European office and a U.S. office in the next few years,” subject to support from the firm’s board, he said.
The plans come as custodians managing Australia’s A$2.9 trillion in pension savings shift more money offshore, with some funds doubling in size every five years. AustralianSuper, the nation’s largest pension fund, is opening an office in New York and expanded its presence in London as it expects about two thirds of its portfolio invested outside Australia.
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