Combined Super and Prime Super in talks to merge

In a statement, Prime Super announced that the funds were in “advanced stages of discussions” to create a merged fund with $5 billion assets under management and 120,000 members.

Prime Super has $3.7 billion funds under management while Combined Super services the not-for-profit sector and has almost $1 billion funds under management.

Combined Super chairman George Kogios said the proposed fund merger would see greater scale delivered for members while maintaining member engagement.

“The synergies between Prime Super and Combined Super are strong and we see the ability to continue that small fund level of personal engagement as a strong positive for our members,” Mr Kogios said.

“The additional scale of Prime Super will allow us to demonstrate a real reduction in the cost of superannuation for our members.”

Prime Super chairman Alan Bowman added that a key consideration for the merger was the similarities in culture and vision for the industry between the two super funds.

“The merger would provide Prime Super with increased scale, whilst remaining a fund that is focused on delivering a quality product to members and the right level of services to contributing employers across a broad range of industries,” Mr Bowman said.

Should the merger – which is pending “satisfactory due diligence” – move ahead, some directors from Combined Super will be appointed to Prime Super’s board, the statement said.

The announcement of the potential merger came on the same day that Sunsuper and AustSafe Super announced they will be merging.