QSuper/Sunsuper progress

As announced in March, QSuper and Sunsuper have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to enter a period of exclusive diligence to explore a merger. Latest update.

Thank you to the many members that logged in recently to watch the QSuper Market Insight online broadcast, hosted by Chief Investment Officer Charles Woodhouse. Part of the broadcast was a live Q&A and approximately 170 thoughtful questions were sent in from viewers.

Several viewers were keen to know whether the coronavirus situation is affecting the current period of exclusive diligence between QSuper and Sunsuper to explore a merger. These were the questions our members asked:

Q: How are the plans for a possible merge with Sunsuper progressing, or is it on hold at this point in time?

A: As QSuper Chair, Don Luke, said in March, the due diligence process will take some time.

Superannuation is a long-term investment and we think there is long-term value in exploring what benefits can be gained for our members from this merger. We’ve always been focussed on investing our members’ money carefully, to improve their financial security in retirement.

We’re carefully monitoring the impact of COVID-19 across all our operations, including our discussions with Sunsuper. During this time our primary focus has been on ensuring continuity of services to members and critical functions such as investments, advice and insurance. Due diligence activities regarding our merger with Sunsuper are continuing (although remotely).

Q: With the current global pandemic and going forward, would a merger still be happening or being considered still?

A: QSuper is focused on ensuring the effort and cost of due diligence is in our members’ best interest. We are making decisions in our members’ best interests as we always have.

Like most organisations, COVID-19 is having an impact on the way QSuper works, with many of our employees moving to remote working arrangements. We remain fully committed to continuing this work. However, the timelines to complete the due diligence process will be extended. This is not unexpected and ensures that we can balance our members’ needs today and the long-term.

Q: Is this really the time to consider a merger with Sunsuper?

A: Our role is to manage both the needs of members today and their needs into the future. As you expect, our absolute core focus is helping our members right now, and no staff have been taken away from any of those core activities; all frontline employees remain dedicated to servicing our members, albeit with a focus on phone and digital rather than face-to-face. In fact we have recruited more frontline staff to maintain our services to members.

There’s a dedicated project team currently working on discussions with Sunsuper, and work on this project doesn’t impact on services to members which is our highest priority. The team remains focussed on ensuring that the right long-term outcome is achieved for our members.

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