Acting trustee ACT Super Management said it proposed to make an initial distribution to Astarra Pooled Superannuation Trust (PST) members within months, but warned that any recovery of investments made in problematic assets is either unlikely or may take years.
“Although ACT Super is unable to confirm the specific quantum of the distribution at this stage, the distribution will be significant and will reflect realisation of the unimpaired assets into which the PST has invested,” ACT Super director Shane O’Keeffe said.
“At this stage it is anticipated that approximately 80 per cent to 90 per cent of members’ balances of unimpaired assets can be distributed.”
ACT Super, which is anticipating making the distribution in June, was appointed to replace Trio Capital as trustee of the PST in 2009. The product had investments in eight managed investment schemes.
O’Keeffe confirmed that five of the schemes are unimpaired or largely unimpaired, but the remaining schemes had significant exposure to problematic assets including the Astarra Strategic Fund (ASF), Millhouse private equity trusts and Ualan Property Holdings.
“There have been no significant recoveries of assets from the ASF to date and the liquidators of Trio [PPB] have indicated that they do not expect any value to be recovered by unitholders in ASF,” he said.
“The only prospect of a return for unitholders in the ASF is through taking legal actions against third parties. Such actions are still being investigated by PPB and are likely to require funding for their pursuit.
“ACT Super is also considering whether to take legal actions against third parties, which will be considered in the context of the likelihood of any recovery of value compared to the prospective costs of pursuing potential claims.”
He said there have been no recoveries from the Millhouse and Ualan investments as at April and that any recovery is likely to take some months or years to achieve.
ACT Super regarded significant recoveries from the Ualan investments to be unlikely, he added.
Given that the PST was not a regulated super fund or an approved deposit fund, it did not meet the definition for compensation under the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act and was not included in the claim for compensation on the federal government, O’Keeffe said.
Investigations into Trio by ASIC and APRA are continuing, he said.
