Oz supers negatively impacting fundraising: Forum

"Australian LPs need to turn their focus to returns, not costs... we are never going to be as cheap as buying an index fund," said David Jones, MD at CHAMP Private Equity. This was echoed by Jonathon Freeman, Investment Partner with Coller Capital, who labelled supers "in danger of throwing the baby out with the bathwater."

Philip Levinson, MD for Blackstone, couched his view in the notion that the Australian PE and VC industry had done a "bad job promoting itself" in relation to the issue of value vs. fees, and needed to step up its efforts in order to be accepted more readily by trustees at super funds.

Robert Televski, the sole super representative who spoke in the morning session of the first day, said, "It's a tough sell to invest in private equity; fees are the big deal." It would be easier, he explained, if there were more GPs committing to their own fund, and a decrease in fees.

Other LPs took an opposite view, stating that a lack of backing by domestic LPs would hurt Australian GPs tremendously, while some GPs are looking to shore up their capital commitments by going overseas anyway. Peter Wiggs, an MD with Archer Capital, told the audience, "If you don't have international LPs, get them."

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• Topics
• Australasia
• Fundraising