Cbus restructures property allocation after headwinds in FY22–23

Cbus has made changes to its strategic asset allocation, completely removing an allocation to global real estate investment trusts (GREITs) from the majority of its portfolios.

In an update at the end of September, the fund said its GREITs allocation made up 15 per cent of its property holdings.

However, it has taken the decision to remove this from its High Growth, Growth Plus, Growth MySuper, Conservative Growth and Conservative options in the accumulation, transition to retirement (TTR) and Super Income Stream (SIS) options. 

It has reduced the overall portfolio allocations in the options from 12 per cent to 11 per cent, although it has a target range of between zero and 28 per cent.

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In the year to 30 June 2023, Cbus’ Growth (MySuper) investment option returned 8.9 per cent over the last financial year. The three-year rolling average performance for the option is 7.7 per cent. 

Chief investment officer, Brett Chatfield, highlighted the property sector had been a headwind to performance. 

“Clearly the property sector has headwinds but the high-quality and diversified nature of our property portfolio has impacted on overall portfolio returns,” he said in July.

Other asset allocation changes are an increase in the allocation to Australian shares from 22.5 per cent to 23 per cent and an increase in the allocation to global shares from 26 per cent to 26.5 per cent on the accumulation and TTR options.

The maximum that the options can hold is 38 per cent in Australian shares and 39 per cent in global shares. 

On the SIS options, the Australian shares allocation has increased from 25 per cent to 25.5 per cent and the global shares option has increased from 24 per cent to 24.5 per cent. 

Last month, the fund reshaped its executive team with the appointment of a new chief transformation officer (CTO) and deputy chief investment officer as well as three other roles.

Deputy CIO is Alexandra Campbell, who has worked as head of private markets at the fund for the past two years, Nancy Day has been named as chief operating officer, Natalie Hannemann has been appointed CTO, Justine Hartman has been appointed as chief people officer and Alexandra West has been named chief strategy officer. 

“The new roles and a reinvigorated business unit model will support the Fund’s future development, so Cbus is always the organisation we want and need to be for our members,” said chief executive, Kristian Fok.