HESTA invests in Australian Unity’s listed impact investment

HESTA will be Australian Unity’s cornerstone investor for its inaugural issuance of Mutual Capital Instruments (MCIs) to establish a capital source for the ‘for purpose, mutual’ sector in the country. 

The superannuation fund has committed $20 million to the $100 million issuance of the Australian Securities Exchange-quoted MCI that will allow retail and large institutional investors to invest for social impact.  

HESTA said it made the investment through its Social Impact Investment Trust that was managed by Social Ventures Australia (SVA).  

The fund’s chief executive, Debby Blakey, said: “We’re very excited to be the first investors to support Australian Unity to bring MCIs to market as we both share a long-term interest in building this country’s social infrastructure”. 

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Australian Unity group managing director, Rohan Mead, said the use of proceeds might extend to merger and acquisition opportunities across its business platforms to increase investment in social infrastructure and support business consolidations in mutual sectors such as private health insurance, banking, and friendly societies.  

“Capital raised through the offer will be used for a range of opportunities, including pursuing near-term growth opportunities within the individual businesses as well as investing capital where third party funding has historically been used,” he said. 

Also commenting, SVA executive director, impact investing, Rebecca Thomas said the issuance was unique opportunities for retail and institutional investors to directly invest in an impact driven organisation. 

“The success of this raising could see a pipeline of similar issuances, with the potential to drive the growth of larger scale social impact-focused organisations within the mutual market,” she said.