Key Takeaways
- • The New Zealand Super Fund reported a return of 14.2% for the year after costs and before New Zealand tax, per the latest annual report discussed on The Mike Hosking Breakfast.
- • The fund's value is reported at roughly $94 billion before tax, with the headline figure cited as $94.25 billion, per the interview; a separate publisher snippet cites $94.35 billion excluding tax.
- • Co-Chief Investment Officer Will Goodwin says the fund is widely regarded as the best-performing sovereign wealth fund globally over the past 20 years, which he says provides access to partnerships and conversations that its size alone would not.
- • The fund runs an approximately 80% equity, 20% debt portfolio, with about 10-11% allocated to New Zealand assets, including forestry, farming, technology, and insurance.
- • The fund has no defence-sector exclusion; it holds defence stocks, with exclusions limited to government-set categories such as nuclear and automatic weapons.
Summary
New Zealand's Super Fund reported a 14.2% return for the latest year after costs and before New Zealand tax, with assets growing to roughly $94 billion, according to co-Chief Investment Officer Will Goodwin, who spoke with Mike Hosking on The Mike Hosking Breakfast on iHeart. Publisher snippets cite the fund's value as $94.25 billion before tax in the headline and $94.35 billion excluding tax in another listing, and describe the fund as roughly NZ$95 billion under management.
Goodwin said the fund is widely regarded as the best-performing sovereign wealth fund in the world over the past 20 years. He said this reputation gives the fund access to partnerships and discussions that would not typically be available given its size. He said the fund's return was a pretty good result by any standard, and he rejected the idea that concentrating in US technology stocks such as NVIDIA would be the fund's approach, emphasizing a diversified, resilient portfolio.
On allocation, Goodwin said the portfolio is about 80% equities and 20% debt, and that the fund has not shifted toward bonds despite government bond yields returning to more normal levels, with the US 10-year yield cited at 5.1%. He said the fund's allocation to New Zealand is around 10-11%, concentrated in forestry, farming, technology, and insurance, and that domestic returns are expected to compare favourably with overseas opportunities on a comparative basis.
Goodwin also addressed defence investments. He said the fund is not excluded from defence stocks and holds them within the portfolio, with exclusions set by the government covering items such as nuclear and automatic weapons. He said the fund works with the government and others to track evolving global views on defence.
Coverage of the Goodwin interview is limited to the iHeart broadcast and related podcast and listing snippets; the broader Super Fund annual report was not available for independent verification in this summary.
Goodwin said the fund is widely regarded as the best-performing sovereign wealth fund in the world over the past 20 years. He said this reputation gives the fund access to partnerships and discussions that would not typically be available given its size. He said the fund's return was a pretty good result by any standard, and he rejected the idea that concentrating in US technology stocks such as NVIDIA would be the fund's approach, emphasizing a diversified, resilient portfolio.
On allocation, Goodwin said the portfolio is about 80% equities and 20% debt, and that the fund has not shifted toward bonds despite government bond yields returning to more normal levels, with the US 10-year yield cited at 5.1%. He said the fund's allocation to New Zealand is around 10-11%, concentrated in forestry, farming, technology, and insurance, and that domestic returns are expected to compare favourably with overseas opportunities on a comparative basis.
Goodwin also addressed defence investments. He said the fund is not excluded from defence stocks and holds them within the portfolio, with exclusions set by the government covering items such as nuclear and automatic weapons. He said the fund works with the government and others to track evolving global views on defence.
Coverage of the Goodwin interview is limited to the iHeart broadcast and related podcast and listing snippets; the broader Super Fund annual report was not available for independent verification in this summary.
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