Brighter Super shines with double-digit returns in 2022/23 after double merger

11 July 2023

Brighter Super has achieved double-digit returns for members in three of its most popular investment options, in the financial year to the end of June 2023, after completing its second fund merger since 2021.

Brighter Super’s MySuper option (the default for Accumulation accounts) returned 10.62% for the 12 months to the end of June 2023, marking excellent performance in a challenging year.

Brighter Super’s Growth option produced a 12-month return of 12.61% to June 30, while the Balanced option also returned double-digit growth of 10.60% over the same period¹ for its accumulation accounts.

The double-digit growth performance in the MySuper, Growth and Balanced Funds, follows Brighter Super’s successful mergers between LGIAsuper, Energy Super and Suncorp Super, to become the fourth biggest non-government financial services entity in Queensland.

Brighter Super CEO Kate Farrar said the previous merger of LGIAsuper and Energy Super in 2021, had enabled the fund to make improvements in its investment capabilities and to take advantage of market conditions and set members up for growth.

This contributed to it having four investment options - MySuper, Growth, Balanced and Secure  - in the top five in the SuperRatings rankings for the financial year to the end of May 2023².

Brighter Super Chief Investment Officer Mark Rider said: “The strong returns have been driven by the recovery in equity markets. Australian equities are up sharply over the past financial year and returns from international equities have been even stronger.’’

Mr Rider said Brighter Super had been overweight in listed equities relative to its major peers and underweight in private equity in the MySuper option. Its infrastructure and credit portfolios also performed strongly.

“There has been a consistency across the performance of the fund,’’ Mr Rider said.

“In addition to having the right bias in the portfolio towards listed equities and away from private equity, having solid performance across all asset classes, relative to the appropriate benchmark, supported performance versus our peers,’’ Mr Rider said.

The merger of LGIAsuper and Energy Super had occurred at an 'opportune' time, enabling the best elements of both funds to be combined and for the portfolio to be configured for the market environment it was moving into.

The just-completed Suncorp Super merger would create another opportunity.

“I think it will give us the same opportunity there for us to review the investments that we have and make sure they are best in class for all of our members,’’ Mr Rider said.

Brighter Super’s MySuper option was last year judged by Money magazine to be the Best-Value MySuper Product for 2023 in its ‘Best of the Best’ awards.

Research by KPMG named Brighter Super as the second-fastest growing fund in the nation, in terms of funds under management and membership growth, behind the Queensland-based fund Australian Retirement Trust.

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