<article><a href="https://www.dealstreetasia.com/?s=NZ Super Fund">NZ Super Fund</a>, New Zealand&#8217;s sovereign wealth fund, returned 12.43 per cent to end the financial year at $39 billion on the back of resumption of government contributions to the fund in December.</article>

<a href="https://www.dealstreetasia.com/?s=NZ Super Fund">NZ Super Fund</a>, New Zealand&#8217;s sovereign wealth fund, returned 12.43 per cent to end the financial year at $39 billion on the back of resumption of government contributions to the fund in December.
In a statement, the fund said it added $4 billion in the 2017-2018 financial year after an eight-year suspension was lifted in December 2017.
This year’s result brings the fund’s returns since its inception in 2003 to 10.4 per cent per annum, and value-added versus the Reference Portfolio to 1.49 per cent &#8211; a total of $7.6 billion.
&#8220;Both broad markets and the NZ Super Fund had performed well during the year, with global equities rising in value and the NZ Super Fund beating its <a href="https://www.dealstreetasia.com/?s=Reference%20Portfolio">Reference Portfolio</a> benchmark,&#8221; said the fund&#8217;s chairman Catherine Savage.
The fund returned 12.43 per cent, after costs before NZ tax, beating its passive Reference Portfolio market benchmark by 2.02 per cent or about $700 million. It also exceeded the average return on Treasury Bills, its other benchmark, by 10.71 per cent or about $3.7 billion.
“While 2017/18 has been an excellent period for the NZ Super Fund and it is good to acknowledge a strong annual performance, the Board continues to take a long-term view,” said Savage.
The New Zealand Government contributed $500 million to the fund over the 2017-2018 financial year, increasing its monthly contributions to $89 million from July 2018. The Government has contributed $15.4 billion to the fund since 2003 and the fund has paid $6.4 billion in NZ tax.
NZ Super Fund CEO Matt Whineray pointed to three areas &#8211; strategic tilting, in which the fund’s exposure to different asset classes is adjusted over time; timber, primarily its 42 per cent stake in Kaingaroa Timberlands; and an internally-managed credit mandate, as the main reasons the fund exceeded the Reference Portfolio benchmark.
“While the Fund remains heavily weighted towards growth assets such as shares, with many markets at or above fair value, we have lowered the amount of active risk being taken. This is a measure of how different the Fund’s actual portfolio is from the passive Reference Portfolio – they have got closer during the year,” Whineray said.
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NZ Super Fund returned 12.43% to end financial year at $39 billion on the back of resumption of government contributions to the fund.

NZ Super Fund adds $4b, beats expectations with 12.4% annual return

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NZ Super Fund adds $4b, beats expectations with 12.4% annual return

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