Key highlights

  • ASX:AASF is an actively managed ETF using a bottom-up approach to build a focused portfolio of Australian equities.
  • The fund holds 37 companies, with the top ten making up 50.24% and BHP the largest at 12.86%.
  • The fund has about $802.81 million in assets and a 0.78% management fee.

The Airlie Australian Share Fund Active ETF (ASX:AASF) offers exposure to a specialised and focused portfolio of Australian shares selected by an active manager. Airlie’s investment philosophy is to build portfolios from the bottom up, assessing companies on four criteria: financial strength, quality of the management team, quality of the business and valuation.

About the Fund

AASF was admitted to the ASX on 4 June 2020 and is classified in the Equity Australia Large Blend category, with the S&P/ASX 200 Total Return Index as its benchmark. Airlie believes that active management can create significant wealth accumulation relative to passive management. The fund has about $802.81 million in assets, and the management fee is 0.78%. The head office is in Sydney.

Country exposure

The largest country allocation is Australia at 91%, followed by the United States at 9%.

Stocks make up 97.75% of the portfolio and cash 2.25%. Of the portfolio, 89.97% is in companies valued above $1 billion and 10.03% in companies between $500 million and $1 billion.

Portfolio holdings

The portfolio holds 37 companies, with top ten holdings making up 50.24% of the fund. The largest positions are BHP Group Ltd (12.86%), Commonwealth Bank of Australia (6.64%), National Australia Bank Ltd (5.16%), Aristocrat Leisure Ltd (4.62%) and Rio Tinto Ltd (3.76%).

The top ten also include SGH, Macquarie Group, Orica, BlueScope Steel and Medibank Private.

Understanding the exposure

The five largest positions add up to 33.04% of the fund, which shows how much of the exposure rests on a small number of names. The remaining 27 holdings share the other 49.76% of the portfolio, an average of about 1.84% each. Exposure is spread across 2 countries or regions, and the three largest allocations (Australia and the United States) together account for 100% of the portfolio.

Fees, size and distributions

The fund pays distributions half-yearly. The most recent was a final distribution of $0.180 per unit, with an ex-date of 1 July 2026 and payment on 21 July 2026.

Fund structure and reporting

AASF has an ISIN of AU60MGE97056 and a head office at Level 36, 25 Martin Place, Sydney. Recent ASX announcements from the fund include a fund update for September 2026, monthly units-on-issue and redemptions notices and a change of address notice.

Equity Australia Large Blend funds invest primarily in large Australian companies, defined as stocks in the top 70% of the capitalisation of the Australian equities market, and the blend style applies where neither growth nor value characteristics dominate.

Units in AASF are quoted on the ASX and can be bought and sold through a broker during trading hours, in the same way as shares, so the exposure described above is available without buying each holding separately. The fund is actively managed, so its holdings and weightings are chosen by the manager rather than set by an index, and they can change over time.