Decarbonisation-focused assets buoy member outcomes: Rest

Superannuation fund Rest said its members are benefitting from investments targeted at decarbonisation and digitalisation, underscored by its massive investment in Quinbrook.

Rest is the largest investor in renewable energy infrastructure manager Quinbrook's Net Zero Power Fund (NZPF).

Rest invested US$650 million in Quinbrook in 2023 in a bid to benefit from decarbonisation and digitalisation over the long term. This includes solar and battery projects and renewable-energy supported data centres.

In April, Quinbrook announced Blackstone-affiliated funds acquired a "significant minority stake" in Rowan Digital Infrastructure but did not disclose any details of this value. Rowan develops hyperscale data centre campuses and has about 20 sites in the US.

Rest is an investor in Rowan through the NZPF and an associated co-investment vehicle.

"We believe our members will continue to benefit over the longer-term from our ongoing stake in Rowan, as well as Quinbrook's strong return profile overall. We expect this investment will help our members grow their super while contributing to a more sustainable future," Rest head of real assets for investments Andrew Bambrook said.

He added Blackstone's investment will support Rowan's future development pipeline and ongoing capacity expansion and has delivered a strong initial return for Rest's members.

"Most of our members will not retire for many decades and we think deeply about the world they'll retire into. We have a long-term objective to achieve a net zero carbon footprint for Rest by 2050," said Bambrook.

"We have identified decarbonisation and digitalisation as two of the major forces that will shape the global economy and society over the coming decades, while also creating valuable long-term investment returns for our more than two million members."

David Scaysbrook, managing partner at Quinbrook, said: "We're focused on developing power and infrastructure solutions that solve hyperscale operators' urgent need for more compute capacity at scale."

"We established Rowan as an early mover in gaining access to power, which is now driving global data centre development. This power focus leverages Quinbrook's specialist expertise in power project development tailored to the needs of energy intensive customers."