We are pleased to advise that AvSuper and Australian Retirement Trust (ART) have agreed to enter into a Heads of Agreement (HOA). The HOA confirms the intention of both parties to proceed with the merge in good faith. It’s a critical and positive step forward in serving our members best financial interests and comes after an extensive due diligence process. The merger is expected to be completed on 30 April 2024.
There’s still a lot of work to be done before the merger takes place. Our working groups are continuing to plan and commence activity for this transition behind the scenes, including organising the transfer of the Defined Benefits accounts to ART.
We will continue to keep you informed of progress via webinars, Member Updates and our website.
Additional questions asked at the webinar
Australian Retirement Trust
As the second largest superfund in Australia, ART was created in Feb 2022 from the merger of two Queensland-based funds, QSuper and Sunsuper. At present, their member base is 2.2 million and they manage over $240 billion in members’ funds. Just like AvSuper, ART offer defined benefit, accumulation and income stream accounts, and a solid performance history. Similar to AvSuper, ART offers insurance and financial advice to their members and has won a number of customer service awards.
Investment performance
For the 2022/23 financial year, AvSuper’s Growth (MySuper) investment option returned 11.4% for accumulation members, and the Balanced Growth Option returned 9.2% for pension members.
In a year of continuing market volatility we achieved improved performance across all investment options. Whilst we all appreciate that there will be the occasional year of negative returns in any long-term investment strategy, we are still happy to leave them behind and return to positive territory.
Annual Report now available
From navigating the complexities of a merger to lifting investment performance out of a negative year, we have been working tirelessly to secure the best outcome for members.
Read the 2022-23 Annual Report.
Annual Statements
Annual Statements will be available in AvSuper Online (AOL) in September. You will be notified by email/post when they are available to download.
Check your statement to ensure your personal details are correct, including your nominated beneficiaries. Ensure your super ends up in the right hands if something were to happen to you, by making a binding beneficiary nomination. Find out more at avsuper.com.au/beneficiaries
Change in operating hours
We reviewed the call activity over the past year and found that we received only 100 calls between 5pm and 6pm in that time period. As a result, we made the decision to change our operating hours to end at 5pm AEST now, instead of 6pm.
Questions
If you have any questions about any of the above, please contact us on 1300 128 751 or email us at avsinfo@avsuper.com.au