Australian Sovereign Wealth Fund Manager Mark Burgess Resigns

Mark Burgess resigned as managing director of Australia’s Future Fund, the country’s A$89 billion ($81 billion) sovereign wealth manager.

Future fund asserts defensive strategy

Australia’s A$75bn ($73bn) Future Fund has failed to reach its mandated benchmark return over its five-year history, but David Murray, the Fund’s chairman, says that is no reason to change its defensive investment strategy.

Speaking at an Institute of Company Directors’ function in Melbourne last week, Mr Murray – a former chief executive of the Commonwealth Bank – said the Fund needed to “keep its powder dry” in the face of the global economic situation, which he said could result in a “20-year” malaise on world markets.