Cath Bowtell has become the chair of the $217 billion investment behemoth IFM Investors in a move that will put her at the cutting edge of worker empowerment through investment.

Ms Bowtell had been serving as deputy chair of the group and has taken over the role after her predecessor Greg Combet moved on to head the Albanese government’s new Net Zero Economy Agency.

IFM is a unique beast, an investment fund owned by 15 industry superannuation funds that has become a global giant investor with eight offices across Asia and Europe and two in Australia.

Its ownership structure means that it cuts out the middle man and is not paying profits to private investors. Rather, it invests for fund members on a mutual ownership model helping deliver higher returns.

That appeals to Ms Bowtell, a one-time ACTU official, who said: “I’ve spent my whole life working in the interests of working people. That’s been the thing that has defined my career and it’s been an extraordinary privilege to be in positions where I’ve been able to do that.”

Investment umbrella

IFM works as an umbrella group, buying or taking stakes in major assets, with ownership of those assets held by the 647 investors who want a slice of the action while IFM acts as funds manager.

That gives it a lot of clout and allows IFM investors to get exposure to a much wider range of assets in which they could hope to invest on their own.

“They are looking for a fund manager that can bring scale, expertise, global reach and diversification,” Ms Bowtell said.

For example it has stakes in toll roads and ports in the US, energy efficient co-generation household heating networks in Poland and water, energy, fibre optics, air and sea port facilities across Europe.

In Australia, it owns massive assets in consortia with other funds, including Sydney Airport and power network Ausgrid.

IFM seeks out assets and raises money from its investment networks to buy into deals. The 647 investors it partners with are mainly mutually owned pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and some mutual insurance companies.

Like minded investors

“They’re all aligned and like-minded. They have a long-term focus and are similarly focused on ensuring that their beneficiaries [members] derive the benefit of the work that we do and the investment returns we generate on their behalf,” Ms Bowtell said.

Ms Bowtell will be the first woman to chair IFM.

Ms Bowtell, who has 20 years’ experience in the industry funds sector, is the first woman to take the chair at IFM. “I think that’s an important change in re-inforcing the culture we have here at IFM.”

She said that culture “is one that values diversity of thought, diversity of background and experience”.

She will be the chair, not an executive, and will rely on the team around her to implement group values and drive the business.

“Greg [Combet] has left me with a very strong board and leadership team with [CEO] David Neal who is a great leader,” Ms Bowtell said.

Interacting with what she says is the high quality leadership team at IFM is one of the advantages of her role. Not only are the team competent and professional, “they are absolutely committed to our purpose- investing for our clients”.

“They could be investing for billionaires but they like the fact that our clients are ordinary working folk,” she said.

IFM is on a strong upward trajectory, having more than doubled its funds under management since 2017, with a lot of that growth being offshore, particularly in infrastructure.

“Infrastructure is probably the area we are best known for and the one we have grown internationally but we also invest in debt, listed equities and private equity,” Ms Bowtell said.

IFM Investors’ asset base is comprised of infrastructure ($100.9 billion), debt securities ($65.3 billion), equities ($43.7 billion) and private equity ($1.2 billion).

Infrastructure business accounts for almost half of IFM’s investments and is growing quickly. To date, just over half the investments are in Australia, but Ms Bowtell expects that to change as offshore investments continue to grow as IFM increasingly outgrows the local market.

Talking about an evolution

“We are evolving our operating model to put more resources into our northern hemisphere offices and to have the capacity … to take opportunities there.”

The end result of that will be a major change in what IFM is.

“We are evolving from an Australian business that had a global outreach to a global business that operates with an Australian flavour,” she said.

IFM and its investors are taking the opportunity to be part of the green revolution that is now taking hold across the energy sector and elsewhere.

“It’s very clear to our investment teams that decarbonisation of economies is under way and there is a great demand for capital to assist companies and governments with that,” Ms Bowtell said.

That demand has the potential to allow profits to flow through to IFM’s owners and investors.

“There are very good opportunities for investors to deploy capital into the technologies and infrastructure that will drive that decarbonisation,” she said.

The New Daily is owned by Industry Super Holdings. Cath Bowtell chairs The New Daily.