MLC Asset Management

Dan Farmer serves as Chief Investment Officer, a role he assumed in September 2023 following the departure of John Woods, who held the CIO position for more than a decade. The investment team operates across Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane, with a committee-based asset allocation process that governs manager selection and portfolio construction. The CIO reports into the MLC leadership structure under NAB's wealth division.

MLC does not originate standalone direct deals as a primary strategy. The firm selects external fund managers across public and private markets, using a dedicated manager research team that evaluates hundreds of strategies globally. In private markets, MLC increasingly participates in direct co-investments alongside its core fund commitments, sourced through existing GP relationships. Access is driven by MLC's scale as a large, sticky allocator of Australian superannuation capital.

MLC Asset Management is the investment management division of MLC Limited, which is wholly owned by National Australia Bank (NAB). NAB acquired MLC in 2000, and the entity has since been integrated into NAB's wealth management operations. This structure means MLC's investment team manages capital for MLC's superannuation and investment products, governance differing from an independent fund manager that raises third-party capital.

MLC is fundamentally a fund-of-funds allocator — it commits capital to external fund managers across equities, fixed income, property, infrastructure, and private equity. Over the last decade, the firm has built a growing co-investment capability that allows it to write direct tickets in private assets alongside its fund commitments, particularly in Australian infrastructure and global private equity.

MLC's largest exposures are in Australian and global equities and fixed income, reflecting the core portfolio needs of its superannuation member base. In private markets, the firm has historically emphasized Australian infrastructure and listed property, with a more recent expansion into global private equity partnerships and private credit. The firm does not explicitly avoid material sectors but applies ESG integration across all manager selection.

MLC Asset Management sits inside NAB's wealth division, which also includes the MLC superannuation platform, the JBWere private wealth business, and the NAB Private banking unit. MLC's investment team manages assets across these entities, meaning the firm's portfolio decisions affect a significant share of Australian retirement accounts and high-net-worth portfolios. NAB has periodically explored divesting parts of the wealth division but has retained MLC Asset Management as a core strategic asset.

MLC selectively writes co-investment checks alongside the fund managers it backs, particularly in Australian infrastructure and real assets where the firm has deep local knowledge. The co-investment program is designed to build direct exposure while leveraging the due diligence of its core GP relationships. MLC does not operate a separate direct investment team — co-investment decisions flow through the same manager selection and asset allocation process as fund commitments.