Hostplus spurns investment internalisation push: Sicilia

Investment Magazine

The $94 billion hospitality industry super fund, Hostplus, is determined to defy the market trend to internalise investments, maintaining its strategy of using external managers, according to chief investment officer Sam Sicilia. In an interview with Investment Magazine, Sicilia says Hostplus does not believe the benefits of internalisation of investment − largely seen by other funds as reducing fees − would be offset by the increasing risk such a strategy would entail. He says the fund’s younger demographic − with an average member age of 37 − and its continued strong cash flow, ranging between $800 million and $1.2 billion a month, also shaped its strategy of having a relatively high proportion of unlisted assets including infrastructure, property, credit, and private equity.

“We have zero dollars invested internally,” said Sicilia who celebrates his 15^th year as CIO of Hostplus in March 2023. “We have 100 per cent of our investments − listed and unlisted − managed externally. There is no internalisation, and we intend to stay that way.”

The rest of this article can be found at investmentmagazine.com.au.