Why Australia Retirement Trust is loading up on media and BNPL stocks
If you've been flicking through the substantial holder notices on the ASX lately, one name keeps popping up like a bad penny—Australian Retirement Trust. The big super fund, the one that came out of the QSuper and Sunsuper merger, has been quietly but decisively building positions in two very different local players. We're talking serious coin, not just mucking about at the margins.
The first move that had the suits talking was Nine Entertainment. A few weeks back, they tipped their holding over the 6% mark, pushing up from just above 5%. That's a serious slab of one of the country's media heavyweights, the mob behind Stan, Domain, and half the newspapers you see on the newsstands. Then, just days prior, they rocked up on the Zip Co register, taking a touch over 5% of the BNPL outfit. Two very different beasts, same steady hand on the tiller.
The long game on the ASX
So what's the angle? On paper, you've got old-school media battling the digital shift, and a fintech that's been through the wringer as rates climbed. But if you've been around the traps as long as some of the names tied to the trust's DNA—blokes like Richard Offen and the late John Riddoch Poynter, who helped shape how institutions think about protecting capital down here—you know it's about sniffing out value where others see a dumpster fire.
It's the kind of thinking you'd find dog-eared in copies of Trusts Law in Australia or those old The Taxpayers' Guide 2009 & 2010 editions that every self-respecting accountant had on their shelf. The philosophy blokes like Adrian M. Seager have always preached: ignore the noise, look at what the thing's actually worth. Don't just follow the herd off a cliff.
With Nine, they're betting the market's got it wrong. Sure, linear telly is a shrinking pie, but the digital assets—Stan's got legs, Domain's a genuine property heavyweight—are the real deal. They've been averaging down since mid-last year, quietly scooping up shares while the hot money was heading for the exits. Classic contrarian play, and one that needs a long leash.
Why Zip caught their eye
The Zip call's the gutsy one. That stock's been hammered—down something fierce in the week before ART showed up as a substantial holder. It's the high-risk end of the pool. But this fund isn't some crypto cowboy outfit; they're managing money for hundreds of thousands of members, mostly public sector and everyday workers. Their timing was bloody impeccable, filing that notice right as the company was gearing up for its own buyback.
It tells you they've run the ruler over the same half-year numbers that spooked everyone else—yeah, bad debts ticked up to 1.7%, which got the headlines—and decided the underlying story still stacks up. Cash earnings growth pushing 86%, as the boss herself pointed out, that's not nothing. They're backing the turnaround story, the "new disciplined approach" spiel, and betting the market's oversold it.
Here's what stands out about their recent shopping spree:
- Backing media's pivot: Pushing past 6% in Nine shows real conviction that the diversified model—streaming, domain, newspapers—can still throw off cash in a tough market.
- Fishing in tech's troubled waters: Grabbing 5% of Zip when sentiment's at rock bottom is textbook "buy when there's blood on the streets", funded by those rock-solid member contributions.
- Steady as she goes: In both cases, it wasn't a one-day frenzy. It's been methodical accumulation over months. That's how funds with real research chops operate, not punting on a hunch.
For the rest of us watching on, seeing a gorilla like ART move is worth noting. It doesn't mean these stocks are going to moon next week. But it tells you the sharpest pencils in the country—the ones who've probably got Trusts Law precedents bookmarked and old Adrian Seager guides on the shelf—reckon these businesses are worth more than the market's currently paying. They're playing the long game, and in this market, that's a bloody refreshing change.