The two industry funds have entered merger discussions.
Industry superannuation funds Cbus and Connect have announced an in-principle agreement to merge.
The merger is expected to be finalised by October, subject to a due diligence process.
Cbus is the industry superannuation fund for the construction, building and infrastructure industries. The fund has $14 billion in funds under management and more than 570,000 members.
Connect is the industry fund for the electrical and communications industry. The fund has $700 million in funds under management with more than 27,000 members.
"The merger with Connect was a natural fit for our fund," Cbus chief executive David Atkins said.
"Connect operates in the electrical industry, which is consistent with our membership base in the building and construction industry," he said.
Any branding and staff changes will be finalised after the merger, Atkins said.
Connect chief executive Sean Leonard said the merger will mean more benefits for members, particularly in distribution and product development.
"A fund like Cbus will give us greater distribution and the ability to develop more products for members," he said.
More fund mergers have been expected in the industry following the Cooper review into superannuation.
The chair of the review, Jeremy Cooper, has urged superannuation funds to merge in a bid to achieve scale and reduced fees.
He said that by 2025, only 27 funds could dominate the industry.
The two non-consecutive alphabetic letters encountered most often last week caused more controversy than the underlying policy they represented, Wouter Klijn writes.... read more »
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