Investor Committees: Legal Issues For Superannuation Fund Appointees

Increasingly, wholesale investments are promoted as some form of "club investment" where the numbers of investors are limited and key investors have a "say" over key issues. Investor committees often have different names but, in essence, are bodies that have rights of veto over key issues in an investment fund, including changes to business activities or investment strategy, redevelopment of facilities and development of assets over a certain value. When a superannuation fund appoints a person to an investor committee, this can raise a number of issues for both the investor and the superannuation fund. Some of these issues include the following:

• Whether the appointee owes any fiduciary duty to the trustee or to other investors.