KeyInvest, a member-owned mutual friendly society founded in 1878, has launched KeyInvest Managed Investments (KIMI), a new investment platform giving advisers and wholesale investors access to specialist strategies in some of the most compelling areas of financial markets.
The KeyInvest / KIMI platform is the culmination of 147 years of capital stewardship, member accountability, and investment discipline, translating hard-won institutional knowledge into a purpose-built platform for today’s market environment.
KeyInvest Managing Director and CEO Craig Brooke said the organisation’s longevity is the foundation on which KIMI has been built.
“Since 1878 we have invested through world wars, economic depressions, financial crises, and periods of extraordinary economic expansion,” Brooke said.
“Across those cycles markets have changed significantly, but certain principles about successful investing remain consistent. Some of the most attractive opportunities exist in areas shaped by structural forces such as regulation, capital constraints, and complexity, and that is precisely where KIMI is focused.”
Serving circa 50,000 members and regulated by APRA under the Life Insurance Act (1995), KeyInvest has long embedded conservative risk management and rigorous due diligence into its investment approach. KIMI brings that same institutional-grade discipline to a broader pool of investors, operating within the governance frameworks that have underpinned KeyInvest’s 147-year track record.
Critically, KIMI’s first strategy is not untested. Since 2022, KeyInvest’s Funeral Bond has deployed up to 20% of its capital-guaranteed portfolio into the same underlying private credit strategy, delivering market-leading returns for three consecutive years1.
“We spent three years investing our own members’ capital in this strategy before inviting others to participate,” Brooke said. “That is what genuine alignment looks like.”
The launch reflects a deliberate response to member demand and significant market opportunity2. Australian private credit funds under management have grown from approximately $130 billion at the end of 2021 to $225 billion by end 2025. Yet with that growth has come complexity, and KIMI’s approach to navigating it is unapologetically ruthless.
Of more than 300 Australian private credit managers reviewed, only 12 met the highest standards of governance, scale, and track record required to participate in the Fund’s diversified multi-manager portfolio. That selectivity is intentional, and it is where KIMI believes alpha is unlocked3.
Asset consultant Atchison has been appointed as investment adviser, providing expertise across manager research, portfolio construction, and ongoing oversight.
KIMI Executive Director Ciaran McAssey said the multi-manager structure is central to how the platform delivers strong risk-adjusted returns.
“By combining best-in-breed managers into a single diversified portfolio, we unlock sources of alpha that a single-manager approach simply cannot access,” McAssey said. “But that only works if you are prepared to be ruthless in who makes the cut. The majority of managers we assessed did not meet our standards, and that discipline is what protects investors.”
McAssey also highlights that, “unlike many private credit offerings where underlying exposures remain largely opaque, KIMI has built the platform around institutional-grade transparency and portfolio look-through capabilities allowing us to drill down to each individual deal for each of the managers which should provide investors with greater confidence.”4
The first strategy, the KeyInvest Senior Debt Income Fund, invests in senior secured loans backed by first-ranking mortgages over real assets including property and infrastructure, targeting returns of RBA Cash Rate +5% per annum (net of fees and costs) with regular monthly income distributions.5 The Fund is initially available to wholesale clients under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), with the potential for broader access through retail structures in the future.
The KeyInvest Senior Debt Income Fund is the first of three strategies planned under KIMI’s Unlock Series, with an Australian Small Companies and a Global Small Companies strategy expected to follow as new opportunities emerge.
The Fund is now available to investors who qualify as wholesale clients under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth).
