Australia's Future Fund appoints new CIO

Samild (pictured) has been serving as deputy CIO for portfolio strategy and then for portfolio construction since 2001. He joined the sovereign wealth fund in 2013 as a director, covering debt and alternatives, and became head of alternatives in 2018. Prior to Future Fund, Samild worked for LUCRF Super.

Brake held the CIO role for less than two years, having arrived at Future Fund in 2019 as deputy CIO. She left for family reasons, prompting CEO Raphael Arnt to assume her duties on an interim basis.

Samild will lead a 90-strong investment team that oversees more than AUD 250bn (USD 164bn) in assets around the world.

“Having spent a significant amount of time leading the research and strategic orientation on the impact of contemporary global challenges to the investment environment, I am very excited to be able to steward the portfolio at this critical juncture,” he said in a statement.

Hugh Murray, head of overlays at Future Fund, is now acting deputy CIO for portfolio construction. Alicia Gregory remains deputy CIO for private markets. Gregory was also serving as acting head of private equity until April when David Bluff, formerly of The Carlyle Group, took on the role.

Future Fund’s PE exposure amounted to 16.9%, or AUD 33.2bn as of December 2022. The core portfolio was worth AUD 196.1bn, having surpassed AUD 200bn for the first time in 2021. It posted a 3.7% loss for the 2022 calendar year amid rising inflation and volatility in public markets.

In a recent white paper, Future Fund questioned whether traditional portfolio construction is dead, given how investment tailwinds of the past 30 years have turned into headwinds.

It suggested that as the landscape changes, accepted investment models based on correlation and diversification are less sturdy.

Future Fund advocates increasing PE investment in pursuit of alpha, focusing on liquidity and dynamic asset allocation, maintaining a broader currency basket, increasing domestic exposure through infrastructure, and adding more tangible assets as inflation protection.

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