Industry super's $320 billion bet on unlisted assets
Industry funds hold almost $320 billion in unlisted equity, property and infrastructure—more than six times the amount held by retail funds. The strategy offers potential benefits, but also creates a genuine valuation and transparency trade-off.
Australian industry and retail super funds are pursuing markedly different investment strategies.
APRA's June 2026 fund-level statistics show industry funds held $319.8 billion in unlisted equity, property and infrastructure, equivalent to 18.8 per cent of their total investments.
Retail funds held just $49.0 billion, or 5.3 per cent.
The biggest difference is infrastructure. Industry funds had $154.8 billion, or 9.1 per cent of investments, in unlisted infrastructure. Retail funds had $14.9 billion, or 1.6 per cent.
There are legitimate attractions to unlisted assets. Large super funds have long investment horizons and can own airports, roads, property and private companies directly rather than relying exclusively on listed markets. These assets may provide diversification and an illiquidity premium.
But there is a genuine cost: we do not know their market value with the same precision as listed assets.
A listed share has an observable market price every trading day. An airport or privately owned company does not. Its value must instead be estimated using assumptions about future cash flows, comparable transactions, discount rates and other valuation inputs.
Those estimates ultimately feed into fund unit prices and therefore members' reported balances.
APRA requires trustees to maintain robust valuation frameworks and generally expects valuations at least quarterly, with greater frequency where circumstances warrant. It has nevertheless identified continuing weaknesses in some funds' valuation governance.
Unlisted investment is not inherently better or worse.
But industry super members are substantially more exposed to assets whose value is estimated rather than continuously discovered in a market.
That is an important difference between industry and retail super.
|
Industry funds
$319.8bn
18.8%
of total investments
|
Retail funds
$49.0bn
5.3%
of total investments
|
| Unlisted asset | Industry $bn |
Industry % |
Retail $bn |
Retail % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Equity | $84.6 | 5.0% | $20.3 | 2.2% |
| Property | $80.4 | 4.7% | $13.8 | 1.5% |
| Infrastructure | $154.8 | 9.1% | $14.9 | 1.6% |
| Total unlisted | $319.8 | 18.8% | $49.0 | 5.3% |