Health Employees Superannuation Trust Australia (HESTA) is raising its exposure to global equities, according to Reuters, citing Jeff Brunton, deputy chief investment officer of the super fund.
He says the fund entered 2026 underweighting equities, and began adding to its holdings recently when war broke out in the Middle East.
“As markets began falling and coming back closer to our view of fair value, we began to buy back our underweight position in stocks,” Brunton is quoted as saying in the news report published on April 20.
“We’ve been buying the broader market and the tech sector is a dominant part of the global stock market with the weight of the ‘Mag 7’, so when we deploy more, we’re getting more exposure to those companies.”
He was referring to the Magnificent Seven US tech stocks: Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp, Alphabet Inc, Amazon.com Inc, Nvidia Corp, Meta Platforms Inc and Tesla Inc.
According to Brunton, HESTA and other super funds have significant opportunities to lean in and shape how artificial intelligence is responsibly and sustainably integrated into investment portfolios and adopted by investee firms over the coming years.
HESTA has A$100 billion (US$71.62 billion) of assets under management. The report says the fund held about A$42 billion worth of Australian and international equities in its balanced fund, the most common investment option, in early February.
Spokespersons for HESTA did not immediately respond to questions from Asia Asset Management.
