Auckland (25 March 2008) - The Guardians of New Zealand Superannuation today announced that their investment relationship with Fisher Funds Management Limited (Fisher Funds) has come to an end. 

Fisher Funds was appointed in December 2003 to manage an active New Zealand equities mandate, benchmarked against a composite of the NZSX Mid and Small-Cap Indices. From today, the Guardians will manage the assets directly, with the overriding objective being to maximise returns without undue risk to the New Zealand Superannuation Fund.   

Over recent years, Fisher Funds has built a successful retail funds management organisation.  Their investment mandate has also been successful for the New Zealand Superannuation Fund. However, as the Guardians have grown into a large scale institutional investor, the commercial drivers of the two businesses have diverged.  

The Guardians work with investment managers around the world to execute the Fund's investment strategy. A list of the Guardians' external investment managers can be found on the Fund's website www.nzsuperfund.co.nz.  

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For more information please contact: Karine Fox, Head of Communications, New Zealand Superannuation Fund, 09 373 8963, 021 351 141 or visit www.nzsuperfund.co.nz.  

Notes for Editors:

About the New Zealand Superannuation Fund:

The New Zealand Superannuation Fund, which commenced investing at the end of September 2003, is designed to partially provide for the future cost of New Zealand superannuation. An ageing population means the cost of providing New Zealand superannuation is expected to double over the next 50 years.  To prepare for this, the Government plans to allocate around $2 billion a year to the Fund over the next 20 years while the cost of superannuation is relatively low.  In the meantime, the Fund will invest the money on a prudent but commercial basis.

As the cost of superannuation escalates, the Government will progressively draw on the Fund to help smooth the impact on its finances.  As at 31 January 2008 the value of the Fund was $13.2 billion. The Fund is expected to grow to around $109 billion by 2025.

In addition to best-practice management portfolio, and to avoid prejudice to New Zealand's reputation as a responsible member of the world community, the Fund's objective is to maximise returns without undue risk to the Fund as a whole. The Guardians expect the return on the Fund to exceed, before tax, the yield on 90-day Treasury bills by an average of at least 2.5% p.a. over rolling 20-year periods.