A hearing on the proposed sale of equities held with Bell Potter Securities is set for this Friday, however a subsequent hearing on the ability of the liquidators to make an interim distribution to qualifying Shield Master Fund unitholders will not be held until 18 February 2026.
In a letter to unitholders earlier this month, Jason Tracy of Alvarez & Marsal said that he and fellow liquidator Glen Kanevsky had applied to the Federal Court for a direction that “we are justified in causing the SMF to make, and that the SMF is justified in making, the interim distribution under the Interim Distribution Proposal”.
Following a case management hearing last week, the liquidators laid out the timeline for further hearings on the matter.
In an affidavit to the court, Tracy said that the Bell Potter Securities comprise a “diversified portfolio of exchange traded funds, securities in listed investment companies and other securities”.
As such, the Bell Potter Securities are exposed to market risk and their value will fluctuate based on the performance of the constituent securities,” Tracy said.
He added: “Many of the underlying investors in the SMF have invested high proportions of their total superannuation in the SMF. For this reason, I am concerned to ensure that the SMF’s property is not exposed to market risk.”
At 31 May 2024, the value of the Bell Potter Securities was $174,678,682, according to the affidavit. As of 31 October 2025, however, the value had increased to $196,843,032.
“The sale of the Bell Potter Securities now will crystalise these gains for the benefit of investors in the SMF. The SMF has also received significant income in the form of dividends and distributions from the Bell Potter Securities,” Tracy said.
Given the liquidators are seeking to sell 75 per cent of the holdings, this would represent close to $148 million.
“The Interim Distribution Proposal involves the sale of a significant proportion of the listed equities owned by Keystone as responsible entity of the SMF, being securities held through a custodian in an account with Bell Potter Securities Limited (the Bell Potter Securities),” Tracy wrote earlier this month.
“The five (5) investment classes of the SMF hold differing proportions of Bell Potter Securities relative to each investment class’s total assets. The Interim Distribution Proposal will, therefore, involve unitholders in some classes receiving more than unitholders in other classes.”
However, the Advantage Diversified Property Class (ADPC) does not hold any Bell Potter Securities, meaning that any unitholders in the ADPC will not receive any distributions from the sale of these equities.
“We consider that the structure of the investment classes within the SMF, and the legal arrangements governing the rights of unitholders in each class, do not permit any alternative to this outcome,” the liquidator said.
“We are working to recover other property for distribution to unitholders in the ADPC, but the timing of a future distribution to the ADPC class (if any) is unknown.”
