The nation’s largest investment managers, including the big superannuation funds, are using private unlisted assets to shield their returns from the turmoil and volatility that have engulfed global equity markets after US President Donald Trump unveiled his sweeping tariff plans this month.
With almost $300 billion wiped from the S&P/ASX 200 since early February – and steeper losses on Wall Street – markets have tanked, then roared back based on Trump’s erratic policy settings. His initial tariff plan caused a meltdown earlier this month and, while a delay to this sparked a recovery, local pharmaceutical groups now appear to be in the president’s crosshairs.
T-Corp’s Stewart Brentnall said valuations were “not to reflect the tactical value of an asset in particularly unusual market circumstances”, and instead what a reasonable buyer would pay. Dominic Lorrimer
TCorp chief investment officer Stewart Brentnall, who manages $120 billion in assets for the NSW government, said the global outlook was unstable due to the “unusual” nature of the Trump administration. “None of us love volatility,” Brentnall said in an interview, “but we do need to deal with it.”
Funds like his had to diversify their holdings to manage the fallout from the chaos, he said, with private assets providing a buffer for returns.
“[Private] real assets only get valued twice or four times a year, where shares get valued in real time,” Brentnall said. “When you look at the expected volatility in an equity index, you are expecting it go up or down 15 per cent or 20 per cent in an average year – real assets just don’t do that.”
Source: https://www.afr.com/companies/financial-services/big-investors-wield-private-assets-to-cushion-returns-from-wild-market-20250414-p5lrjc