AustralianSuper, Australia’s largest superannuation (pension) fund, entered into a partnership with Churchill Asset Management, with an initial instalment of $250 million, intended to grow substantially over time. The partnership will invest in traditional senior and unitranche loans to private equity-backed U.S. middle market companies.
AustralianSuper has more than $4.5 billion committed to private credit globally, with an ambition to triple its exposure in coming years through a mix of direct lending by its in house private credit team and strategic partnerships with best-in-class specialist managers such as Churchill.
Churchill is the $42 billion private capital investment specialist of Nuveen, the asset manager of TIAA2. Churchill has a 16-year track record of disciplined investing in middle market senior loans across economic cycles and is one of the most active lenders in the industry investing more than $14 billion annually.
AustralianSuper head of private credit, Nick Ward, said the fund is working with aligned managers that have strong long-term track records as it expands its global private credit exposure particularly in the U.S. market.
“AustralianSuper is looking to work selectively with managers that can demonstrate disciplined performance across market cycles as we expand the US private credit portfolio,” Ward said. “Churchill has a strong long-term track record of market leadership, and we look forward to building a long-lasting partnership with the team at Churchill and Nuveen.”
”We are excited to partner with AustralianSuper, a leading and well-respected global investor. Churchill’s partnership with AustralianSuper demonstrates our ability to develop customised investment structures that align with our clients’ priorities, allowing us to grow our third-party separately managed account business to nearly $9 billion,” Ken Kencel, president and CEO of Churchill, said. “We believe the opportunity in U.S. middle market senior lending continues to be very attractive, particularly given the floating rate nature of the investments, strong current income potential, significant lender protections and senior position in the capital structure. We look forward to helping AustralianSuper achieve its investment objectives by providing differentiated access to our directly originated, proprietary senior loan assets.”
