Pensions

Qantas Super, ART Make Merger Official

The tie-up is expected to provide lower fees to members of the new Qantas Group Super Plan in ART.
Reported by Karren Vergara




Qantas Super, the retirement plan founded in 1939 to benefit employees of the transportation company Qantas, has completed its merger with Australian Retirement Trust.

On March 29, about 25,000 Qantas members, with A$9 billion ($5.71 billion) in funds under management, moved to ART.

“It has been our profound privilege and honor to serve our current members and the tens of thousands of former Qantas employees who have previously been members,” Qantas Super Chief Executive Michael Clancy said in a statement.

ART had nearly 2.5 million member accounts and A$310.2 billion ($196.8 billion) in FUM at the end of June 2024, according to statistics from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority.

“As we pass the baton to ART, it is the close of this present chapter in the fund’s history and the beginning of another—with the establishment of the Qantas Group Super Plan in ART,” Clancy wrote on LinkedIn. “Although this is a bittersweet moment for the Qantas Super team, I am super confident that merging Qantas Super into ART is in the best financial interests of our members.”

Qantas Super announced it was exploring merger options in September 2023 and that it had entered into an agreement to merge with ART in July 2024.

“Qantas Super was founded in 1939 to provide retirement benefits to Qantas Group employees,” Clancy wrote. “In the 86 years since, we’ve been delivering on that commitment: through the turmoil of World War II, economic highs and lows, the technological change of the 21st century and everything in between.”

Most Qantas Super members will benefit from lower administration and investment fees in the Qantas Group Super Plan in ART. For example, ART’s annual fixed administration fee for the Qantas Group Super Plan is currently A$52 per year, compared with Qantas Super’s A$70.

The annual asset-based administration fee will drop to 0.05% in ART from 0.23% in Qantas Super.

This originally appeared in our sister publication, Financial Standard, which, like CIO, is owned by ISS STOXX.