Fund Awards A New Mandate to AXA Rosenberg

New Zealand Superannuation Fund Awards A New Mandate to AXA Rosenberg

Auckland (8 November 2006) - The New Zealand Superannuation Fund today announced that AXA Rosenberg has been appointed to manage a global equity market neutral strategy mandate.

Excess returns (above cash) from the strategy are designed to come entirely from AXA Rosenberg's stock selection skills rather than equity market movements. In an equity market neutral strategy, the manager holds both long positions and short positions. For a manager that has some predictive skill for stocks expected to decline in value, this allows the best expression of their stock selection skill. The Fund will also obtain market exposure, so as to match its target strategic asset allocation. This market exposure will be obtained synthetically, and is independent of the AXA Rosenberg mandate.

The global market neutral strategy allows for efficient access to AXA Rosenberg's stock selection and risk management skills. They have already established market neutral strategies covering Europe, US and Japan. The global strategy essentially combines the three regional strategies.

Commenting on the appointment, the Fund's Acting Chief Executive Officer Paul Dyer said: "In funding this mandate the Fund is continuing its pattern of funding efficient strategies in managers in whom the Fund has high conviction. AXA Rosenberg already manages a conventional long-only EAFE equity mandate for us."

The appointment of AXA Rosenberg brings the total number of external investment mandates to 35. The value of the Fund at 30 September 2006 was NZ$10.8 billion.

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Notes to Editors:

About the New Zealand Superannuation Fund:

The New Zealand Superannuation Fund, which commenced investing at the end of September 2003, is designed to partially provide for the future cost of New Zealand superannuation. An ageing population means the cost of providing New Zealand superannuation is expected to double over the next 50 years. To prepare for this, the Government is allocating on average $2.2 billion a year to the Fund over the next 20 years while the cost of superannuation is relatively low. In the meantime, the Fund will invest the money on a prudent but commercial basis.

As the cost of superannuation escalates, the Government will progressively draw on the Fund to help smooth the impact on its finances. As at 30 September 2006 the value of the Fund was $10.8 billion. The Fund is expected to grow to around $120 billion by 2025. For more information visit www.nzsuperfund.co.nz

AXA Rosenberg

AXA Rosenberg Group LLC, the specialist global equity investment management firm within the AXA Investment Managers group, was founded in 1985 by Dr. Barr Rosenberg. AXA Rosenberg models and predicts company fair value, future earnings and risk in building portfolios that aim to produce higher future earnings per dollar than the markets. This analysis is embedded in an expert system - the proprietary software built to embody the firm's collective knowledge - so that it can be applied in a consistent and repeatable fashion in all markets worldwide.

Today AXA Rosenberg manages more than $100 billion in individual country, regional and global strategies for pension funds, foundations and government entities in North America, Europe, Asia and Japan. Headquartered in Orinda, California, the firm has offices in New York, Toronto, London, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore and Sydney. For more information visit www.axarosenberg.com

ENDS

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