Australian pension funds are only catching up on allocations to private equity, according to Pengana, with allocations hovering between 4% and 6%.

In a webinar, Pengana, who runs a private equity trust run by Grosvenor Capital Management in the US, said Australia lags behind the US and Europe.

Frederick Pollock, portfolio manager at Pengana Private Equity Trust, said: “Australia is still catching up. The Future Fund is up 16.8% and the reasonably progressive super funds are up around 5% but are trying to catch up.

“If you look through their documentation, their stated goals are higher, but it takes years to build the portfolio adequately to reach those higher levels, especially in the face of rising public markets.

“I think you’ll continue to see most institutional investors going into private equity and that will continue to grow over time.”

For example, Australia’s Super Balanced fund had 6% allocated to private equity, Aware Super Balanced Option had 5%, and HESTA Balanced Growth had 4%.

The Pengana Private Equity Trust was currently in the process of launching a rights offering to raise $75 million to participate in new opportunities.