Why Australian Retirement Trust is loading up on media and BNPL stocks

If you've been flicking through the substantial shareholder notices on the ASX lately, one name keeps cropping up—Australian Retirement Trust. The big super fund, born from the merger of QSuper and Sunsuper, has been quietly but decisively building positions in two very different local players. We're talking serious money here, not just a bit of dabbling around the edges.

The first move that got the suits talking was Nine Entertainment. A few weeks back, they tipped their holding over the 6% mark, up from just above 5%. That's a serious chunk of one of the country's media heavyweights, the crew behind Stan, Domain, and half the newspapers you see on the stands. Then, just days earlier, they popped up on the Zip Co register, taking a touch over 5% of the BNPL player. Two very different beasts, same steady hand at the wheel.

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 interest 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 disaster zone.

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 TV 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 cowboys; 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 big player like ART make a move is worth noting. It doesn't mean these stocks are going to the moon next week. But it tells you the sharpest minds 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.