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Is your super in Transurban? |
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Written by Bruce Robinson
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Tuesday, 04 October 2005 |
It is fashionable for institutional investors to be putting funds
(our superannuation) into "infrastructure". I have heard this defined
as "toll roads, airports and power stations". Indeed, a Sunday paper
recently recommended a major successful toll-road company as a
"low-risk" investment. However, I would greatly prefer my super fund to
get out of investments in toll roads and airports, soon.
Many people can see that the impending arrival of Peak Oil, be it in
2008, 2010, or 2015 will create shortages, increase prices and possibly
bring fuel rationing to Australia again. The longterm growth of traffic
on which urban toll road and airport owners are depending is likely to
start trending the other way, down. Soone or later there is very
likely to be a crash in oil-vulnerable infrastructure stocks and this
may rival the Dot Com crash. I hope our super funds have sold out of
toll roads and airports well before the crash. Perhaps we should all
check on the oil-vulnerability rating of the various superannuation
funds before entrusting them with our future.
As a member of a superannuation fund, you are entitled to ask
them firmly if they have conducted a risk analysis of their
oil-vulnerability and their exposure to stocks owning toll-roads and
airports. The first thing to do is to ask the superannuation fund
managers, politely, preferably in writing. The second is to arrange
professional briefings for them about Peak Oil. The University Staff
Association may be a vehicle for helping the super fund realise they
should be starting to invest in stocks with lower oil vulnerability.
Airports and toll-roads are probably very high on the oil-vulnerable
list, followed by large outer-suburban shopping centres which require
people to drive long distances to get there.
Individuals concerned about their super could well bring the financial
sector to realise how risky their current "low-risk" investments really
are. Stopping or even slowing the rush to build ever more toll-roads,
by warning financiers about the Peak Oil risks, would be a very good
move that we can all help get under way. We will also help save lots of
ordinary people's
super contributions from going down the toll-road gurgler. |
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