AustralianSuper has announced a new partnership with Churchill Asset Management, with an initial instalment of US$250 million ($373 million), intended to grow substantially over time.
The partnership will invest in traditional senior loans to private equity-backed middle market companies in the United States.
AustralianSuper has over US$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 specialist managers such as Churchill.
Churchill is the US$42 billion private capital investment-specialist of Nuveen, the asset manager of TIAA.
AustralianSuper’s US$175 billion global investment portfolio is projected to more than double over the next five years. The fund opened its New York office in 2021 and is recruiting a specialist US investment team focused on growing its private credit, private equity, infrastructure and property portfolios.
AustralianSuper was ranked as the 20th largest pension fund in the world earlier this year in the Watson Tower Wills Thinking Ahead Institute’s Top 300 pension study.