The Future Fund has lowered its stake in Telstra Corp to 0.8 per cent, marking the sell-down of about 2 billion shares over two years and giving it a market weighting in the telecommunications giant.
The $75 billion fund said it currently held 100 million Telstra shares, marking the end of a rebalancing exercise it first launched about two years ago when it began selling down its 16.5 per cent stake in the telco.
The fund yesterday said its sell-down was complete.
“The board will no longer report the performance of its Telstra holding separately from the rest of the portfolio and will transfer management of the holding to external investment managers in line with its usual arrangements,” the fund said in a statement.
It said $9.37 billion had been integrated into the broader fund from Telstra dividends and share sales as a result of the 2.1 billion, or $9.21 billion worth, of Telstra shares transferred by the government in 2007.
Many market pundits would argue the rebalancing was actually flagged when fund chairman David Murray insisted shortly after the transfer that the shares’ performance be quarantined from that of the rest of the fund.
The shares were in escrow until November 2008 and Murray wasted little time in starting the selling process.
In the fund’s portfolio update for the March 2009 quarter, Murray first officially expressed disappointment over the Telstra returns of minus 10.57 per cent for the quarter and minus 15.53 per cent for the financial year to date.
In August 2009, the fund announced the sale of 684.4 million shares, or 34 per cent of its Telstra stake.
The fund has been selling ever since. In March 2011, it said it had reduced its stake to below 5 per cent of Telstra, about 620 million shares, and ceased to be a substantial shareholder.
