Future Fund appoints Raphael Arndt as new CEO

Australia’s Future Fund has appointed Raphael Arndt as its new chief executive officer.

Arndt will step up to the job from his current role as chief investment officer on 1 July 2020. The search for a replacement CIO will begin “in due course”, Future Fund said.

Arndt’s background is in the infrastructure finance space, having joined the Future Fund in 2008 as head of infrastructure and timberland before serving as CIO from 2014. Prior to this, he was an investment director with Hastings Funds Management and director of policy at the Australian Council for Infrastructure Development.

Future Fund launched a global search for a new CEO earlier this year after previous chief executive David Neal departed on 28 February to take up the position of chief executive at IFM Investors, replacing Brett Himbury.

Cameron Price, Future Fund’s general counsel and chief risk officer, will continue as acting CEO until 1 July.

In a statement, Future Fund chairman Peter Costello said: “Raphael is an effective leader who has proved his ability to build high performing teams and organisations. He has been integral to developing the way the organisation works as well as driving the development and implementation of its investment strategy.

“His knowledge of the organisation, combined with his global perspective on institutional investment, make him an outstanding leader for the Future Fund.”

In a portfolio update last month, Arndt said the coronavirus pandemic could be “a good time for investors to question the assumptions they might have made” around infrastructure assets, with the fund yet to carry out a revaluation of its unlisted assets.

Future Fund’s assets under management stood at A$162 billion ($106 billion; €98 billion) as of 31 March and it recorded a return of -3.2 percent in the quarter to the end of March, with the financial year to date return now at -0.2 percent. Its target return for the financial year is 4.7 percent.