Where are we in the economic cycle? What is the outlook for inflation and what does that mean for investors? Risks and opportunities and how to position for them.

If a fund is not considering a merger, it’s probably because they are in the midst of one. Mergers are costly, time consuming and distracting. Ensuring alignment between merging funds is paramount and a shared philosophy is required to ensure the cost and effort is worth it. Funds have a simple question to answer “will members be financially better off?”. Consequently, investments must be front of mind in any merger discussion, but too often this takes a backseat to more operational and functional issues. In this session, learn what to consider, how to avoid costly mistakes and where to find advantage to reap the benefits of a merged fund.

Achieving the 'best case scenario' of limiting global warming to no more than 1.5 degrees C above pre-industrial levels by the century’s end will require a decarbonisation pathway to net zero greenhouse gases from human activity by 2050. In this two-part session, GIRA partners Frontier and LCP will first compare and contrast the key top-down drivers of the net zero alignment movement for asset owners from a regional perspective and then we explore how fund managers are evolving to support asset owners navigate risk and opportunity when decarbonising their equity portfolios.

Advances in technology are providing new opportunities and levelling the playing field for investment decision making. This session explores how advances in artificial intelligence, machine learning, cloud computing and rapid development technologies are changing the competitive landscape and the roles of the incumbents. What may have taken days or weeks can now be accomplished in shorter time frames leading to increased efficiencies. How widely are these advances being taken up in the investment management industry and what are the impediments and drawbacks.

As more Australian institutional investors breach the mark of $50 billion in funds under management, how will they impact the way capital is deployed and flows through markets as they continue to grow? What opportunities do these mega investors enjoy, or miss out on, due to their size?

Our panel will discuss strategic decisions they are making that will impact capital markets and access to both investment opportunities and resources for all players. In a wide ranging discussion we will discuss internalisation, private markets, offshore resources, placing billion dollar cashflows and when, or whether, size inefficiencies occur.

This session looks at the drivers of growth in the private debt market and consider its attractiveness within Australian portfolios, with a focus on corporate direct lending. How does Australian private debt compare with offshore strategies in terms of diversification, level of risk, and fees, and is there a case for investors to allocate to both? The session reviews the performance of funds during the COVID-19 period, the illiquidity premia available versus liquid markets through time, and investigate default statistics in this often opaque and hard to analyse segment of the credit market.

Frontier has made a number of enhancements for assessing culture as part of our manager research process. We are placing an increasing focus on culture as part of our ongoing manager research program. Learn more about our application of the principles and the incident assessment framework that have been developed in parallel with a number of live, high profile, culture-related cases. Also how the enhanced frameworks now being applied provide a practical means of dealing with a variety of culture-related issues both proactively, ex-ante, as well as when issues arise.

Our panel discusses the value of finding managers and partners with the right cultural fit, addressing both culture and challenges, from an asset owner’s perspective. We also discuss the need for, and importance of, lifting the bar across the industry.

Investment governance frameworks must evolve when organisations grow, as both investment scale and complexity increase. Frontier has joined forces with KPMG to research leading-practice governance at key points along the growth continuum, to develop a ‘governance guidebook’ for fiduciaries. This session discusses the governance features, challenges, and responses facing a range of organisations as their portfolios grow through different size milestones. We also explore the open issues of ‘optimal scale’ and as an asset sector example, internalisation issues associated with direct investment into private markets.

In his 2003 missive to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders, Warren Buffet famously classified derivatives as financial weapons of mass destruction. Since then, the use, regulation and management of derivatives has evolved dramatically, making them a valuable tool for asset owners of all types. This session provides a broad overview of how derivatives are being used across the investment industry. Derivatives can be used to mitigate risk, enhance returns, and improve diversification. Rather than weapons of mass destruction, investors should view derivatives as weapons of portfolio construction.

Iron ore is an important part of Australia's economy accounting for 40% of Australian exports (with China being our largest buyer) and 7% of nominal GDP in 2020. It makes up a meaningful part of our equity market and also significantly impacts the Australian dollar. Over the last 18 months, the iron ore price has moved around materially. This session explores the drivers behind the iron ore price movements, where prices are likely to go, and its implications for investment portfolios and asset allocation.

‘Your Future Your Super’ is redefining how real estate investors view and play the sector against a constrained domestic benchmark. Go bold? Go safe?

Moving up the risk curve may appeal to some investors in search of elevated returns. Higher fees and risks follow such as J-curve impact from funds still in investment periods. So what options do investors have particularly those with investment constraints around investing offshore? Domestic markets, on the other hand, offer little access to healthcare, residential and logistics. Most Australian investors still have material allocations to the retail and office sectors, both of which are facing challenges. Behavioural changes post COVID-19 may be here to stay. So what options exist for a range of investors?

In this session we explore a range of investment ideas and implementation options: funds, co-investments, completion strategies via GREITs across traditional and niche sectors. We present our updated views on the retail and office sectors and explore life sciences across regions.

Exponential growth in the use of social media, digitisation of human experiences (work, shopping, video, gaming) and machine interconnectedness (IoT) has driven significant demand for digital and communications infrastructure in the last decade. In fact, data is shaping up to be the precious commodity of the 21st century. And while the current pandemic has accelerated the investment demand for digital infrastructure assets, investors too eager to invest in this sector need a greater awareness of investment trends for digital infrastructure and the risks that may lie ahead, now more so than ever.

This session discusses the challenges and opportunities for APRA-regulated insurers versus government insurers, the latter of which are not subject to APRA's LAGIC framework. Despite differences in regulatory regimes and liability profiles, common thematics and shared learnings can be applied. The panellists compare and contrast how these portfolios structurally differ, how they performed over the past year and how inflation expectations going forward will continue to shape investment results.