Good evening,

MYOB’s time with start-up super fund Slate Super is coming to an end. Street Talk understands the Flare HR-controlled fund, which put its exit plans into gear in 2023, has turned the process over to the trustee, which is expected to complete the transfer imminently.

MYOB, owned by US private equity giant KKR, picked up the asset in its acquisition of payroll platform Flare in 2022. That same year, MYOB made it clear to the trustee that it intended to pull out as Slate’s promoter and worked with regulators and interested parties throughout 2023, sources told Street Talk.

Slate Super is owned and operated by Simple Financial Choices, a wholly owned subsidiary of Flare HR. Superannuation trustee start-up Diversa, which competes with sector heavyweight EQT, is the trustee.

The $500 million fund has had a choppy history, with its products appearing on the federal government’s list of funds overcharging for clients in choice options last year. The software giant has also been accused of funnelling members into Slate Super through online marketing techniques that appear to work around laws on stapling workers to a single fund.

On Monday, Street Talk reported KKR has been testing investor appetite to refinance the bulk of MYOB’s borrowings for several weeks, in a deal that’s expected to be in the order of $1 billion.

Of note, MYOB and KKR still have their head in the noose on stitching up a circa-$200 million loan, thanks to a looming deadline for an earn-out tied to a bolt-on acquisition, due later this year.

Street Talk now understands that bolt-on acquisition is Flare.

Read the full story tomorrow and more on the Street Talk page.

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Superannuation funds are rushing to sell out of Utilities Trust of Australia, owner of stakes in monopoly infrastructure assets including NSW electricity transmission company Transgrid and its South Australian equivalent ElectraNet, as the cost of backing the energy transition eats into cash returns.

Australian shares lost ground ahead of Tuesday as traders awaited further clarity on the federal budget and key inflation data out of the US to help gauge the path of interest rates.

Click here for the latest equity market wrap.