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University of Melbourne Trusts Fund
The University of Melbourne Trusts Fund operates as the endowment for Australia's highest-ranked university, based in Melbourne. Its Investment Management...
University of Melbourne Trusts Fund
The University of Melbourne Trusts Fund operates as the endowment for Australia's highest-ranked university, based in Melbourne. Its Investment Management Committee (IMC) oversees the portfolio, chaired by Andrew Sisson AO, who founded and built Balanced Equity Management into one of the country's largest institutional equity managers. Martyn Myer AO, of the Myer family and its philanthropic foundation, previously chaired the committee, signaling a long-standing tie to Australian establishment wealth. Strategy spans real estate, fund investments, and private-market exposure. The university holds a portfolio of physical assets including The Lofts at Little Hall, a mixed-use development on Swanston Street, and the Hawthorn Campus commercial site. Beyond bricks and mortar, the fund deploys into managed vehicles — the committee's composition, with Future Fund CEO Dr Raphael Arndt and Arnold Bloch Leibler senior partner Mark Leibler AC as members, suggests a multi-manager approach blending external fund commitments with direct property holdings. The university became a Principles for Responsible Investment signatory in 2020 and joined the Investor Group on Climate Change in 2022. The IMC's architecture is the fund's structural differentiator: it convenes external investment professionals rather than a dedicated internal CIO team. This outsourced-CIO model gives the university access to senior operators — Sisson, Arndt, Leibler — who run money at national scale elsewhere. Vice-President Katerina Kapobassis handles administration and finance oversight, linking the committee's decisions to university operations. The exact AUM figure remains undisclosed. The fund's governance separates it from typical endowment models. Rather than an in-house investment office, a committee of external practitioners sets strategy, a structure more common among Australian non-profits and smaller sovereign pools than among US-style endowments. Succession on the committee has historically drawn from overlapping networks in Melbourne's financial, legal, and philanthropic circles.
General information
Firm type
Endowment / Foundation
Year founded
1853
Location
Region
Oceania
Country
Australia
City
Melbourne
Corporate office
Melbourne, VIC, Australia
Principals
Andrew Sisson
Chair, Investment Management Committee
Katerina Kapobassis
Vice-President (Administration & Finance) and COO
Raphael Arndt
Member, Investment Management Committee
Martyn Myer
Former Chair, Investment Management Committee
Mark Leibler
Member, Investment Management Committee
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at the University of Melbourne Trusts Fund?
An Investment Management Committee (IMC) chaired by Andrew Sisson AO, the founder of Balanced Equity Management. The committee includes Dr Raphael Arndt, CEO of Australia's Future Fund, and Mark Leibler AC, senior partner at Arnold Bloch Leibler. Katerina Kapobassis, Vice-President of Administration and Finance, manages operational oversight. This external-committee structure is the core governance mechanism rather than a dedicated internal CIO office.
How is the fund's portfolio constructed?
The portfolio combines direct real estate holdings — including The Lofts at Little Hall on Swanston Street and the Hawthorn Campus commercial site — with allocations to external managed funds. The IMC's composition, with expertise spanning public equities, sovereign funds, and private legal structuring, points to a multi-asset, multi-manager approach rather than a concentrated direct-investment strategy.
Does the University of Melbourne disclose its endowment size?
No. The university does not publicly report an aggregate endowment AUM figure. Individual gift portfolios and trust units exist, but a consolidated number is not published, placing it among the less transparent large Australian university endowments.
What is the fund's posture on responsible investing?
The university became a signatory to the UN Principles for Responsible Investment in 2020 and joined the Investor Group on Climate Change in 2022. It is also a signatory to the UN Global Compact, signaling a formal commitment to integrating ESG factors and sustainability considerations into investment decisions.
How does the University of Melbourne's endowment structure differ from US endowments?
Rather than an in-house investment office on the Yale or Stanford model, the University of Melbourne uses an external Investment Management Committee. This outsourced-CIO model draws on senior practitioners — including a sovereign wealth fund CEO and a major institutional equity founder — who serve in a committee capacity rather than as full-time employees of the university.
What is the relationship between the endowment and the Myer family?
Martyn Myer AO, a member of the Myer retail family and the Myer Foundation, previously chaired the Investment Management Committee. His tenure reflects the endowment's historical proximity to Melbourne's philanthropic and business establishment, though the current chair is Andrew Sisson.
Which sectors does the fund explicitly avoid?
No public exclusion list exists. However, the PRI and IGCC memberships suggest a tilt toward decarbonization-aligned portfolios, and the fund's governance structure — with practitioners from institutions that themselves face ESG mandates — implies avoidance of sectors that would materially conflict with those commitments.
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