Australia’s largest pension fund AustralianSuper has written off over AUD1.1bn in equity and loans linked to US-based online education start-up Pluralsight, marking the fund’s largest single loss in its venture capital investments to date, according to a report by the Australian Financial Review.
The superannuation giant, which manages AUD341bn in retirement savings for more than 3m Australians, has been actively expanding its portfolio in private credit and private equity markets, particularly in the US. However, its investment in Pluralsight, a Utah-based video training firm once valued at more than $5bn, has led to a loss of $757m.
AustralianSuper’s involvement with Pluralsight came through its partnership with Texas-based private equity firm Vista Equity Partners. Together, they co-underwrote a $3.5bn deal to take Pluralsight private in late 2020. Vista later acquired Australian start-up A Cloud Guru in 2021 and integrated it into Pluralsight.
Over the weekend, Vista and AustralianSuper opted to walk away from Pluralsight as the company’s debt burden became unmanageable. The firm has now been taken over by its lenders, led by Blue Owl Capital and Ares Management, at a revised valuation of $900m.
AustralianSuper’s Chief Investment Officer Mark Delaney had previously indicated plans to triple the fund’s allocation to private credit deals by 2030.
