Key highlights

  • AUST holds about 200 of the largest ASX-listed shares and sells ASX SPI 200 futures to manage volatility and cushion downside.
  • Financial Services (32.59%) and Basic Materials (27.27%) are its largest sectors, and BHP is its largest holding at 12.24%.
  • The management fee is 0.49%, and the fund’s beta is 0.80, below that of a fully invested index fund.

Some exchange-traded funds hold shares and then use derivatives to adjust how much market exposure they carry. The Betashares Managed Risk Australian Shares Complex ETF (ASX:AUST) is one of these, combining a diversified share portfolio with futures contracts designed to reduce volatility. It was admitted to the ASX on 10 November 2015, is classified by Morningstar as Equity Australia Large Blend and uses the S&P/ASX 200 TR AUD index as its benchmark.

This article explains the exposure that AUST provides using the ASX fund page, including its sector mix, its holdings, its fee and its distribution history. It does not include return data, forecasts or advice.

What the fund is designed to do

According to the fund’s description, it invests the assets of the fund in a broadly diversified share portfolio, generally consisting of approximately 200 of the largest equity securities listed on the ASX, weighted by their market capitalisation and rebalanced quarterly. It also sells ASX SPI 200 futures contracts to manage volatility and cushion downside.

Selling index futures reduces the fund’s net exposure to share market movements, because gains or losses on the futures offset part of the movement in the physical share portfolio. The effect is visible in the fund’s measured beta of 0.80 and standard deviation of 8.39, which are lower than the 1.00 beta of the market itself. The fund’s turnover ratio was 7.60%, and it held 200 companies in total.

Sector allocation

By Morningstar sector, AUST’s largest weightings are Financial Services (32.59%), Basic Materials (27.27%), and Consumer Cyclical (6.90%). Relative to its Morningstar category average, the fund holds a higher share in Financial Services (32.59 vs 30.04%). The remaining listed sectors are Healthcare (6.51%), Industrials (5.72%), Real Estate (5.33%), Energy (4.74%), Consumer Defensive (3.74%), Communication Services (3.28%), and Technology (2.48%).

The sector weights track those of the broader Equity Australia Large Blend category closely, which reflects the market-capitalisation weighting used in the share portfolio.

Asset mix, company size and geography

The physical portfolio is fully invested in shares, with stocks at 100.00%, and the futures overlay is not shown in this allocation. By company size, 97.08% of the fund is in companies above $1 billion, 2.67% in companies between $500 million and $1 billion, and 0.25% below $500 million.

By geography, Australia accounts for 95.82% of the fund, the United States for 2.70%, New Zealand for 0.60%, the United Kingdom for 0.52%, Canada for 0.19% and China for 0.17%. The category average has Australia at 94.32% and the United States at 3.51%.

Top holdings

The ten largest holdings make up 48.83% of the fund, with the other 51.17% spread across the remaining 190 companies. They are BHP Group (ASX:BHP) at 12.24%, Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX:CBA) at 9.73%, National Australia Bank (ASX:NAB) at 4.32%, Westpac Banking Corporation (ASX:WBC) at 4.31%, ANZ Group (ASX:ANZ) at 4.09%, Wesfarmers (ASX:WES) at 3.29%, Macquarie Group (ASX:MQG) at 3.22%, CSL (ASX:CSL) at 3.02%, Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) at 2.35% and Woodside Energy Group (ASX:WDS) at 2.23%.

BHP’s 12.24% weight is the largest single position and reflects its large share of the ASX 200 by market value.

Distributions

AUST pays distributions twice a year. The most recent was a final distribution of $0.245 per unit, with an ex-date of 1 July 2026, a record date of 2 July 2026 and a payment date of 16 July 2026. Earlier distributions were $0.294 in January 2026, $0.212 in July 2025, $0.312 in January 2025 and $0.274 in July 2024.

Fund snapshot and recent filings

On the ASX page, AUST showed a last price of $17.78, down $0.03 or 0.22%, a bid-offer range of $17.76 to $17.90, a day range of $17.77 to $17.78 and a trading volume of 14,348 units against an average of 2,383. The management fee is 0.49% and the ISIN is AU00000AUST8. Its head office is at Level 46, 180 George Street, Sydney.

Recent announcements include the Units on Issue Disclosure for September 2026 on 6 October, the Annual Report on 25 September, the August units disclosure on 4 September, the July units disclosure on 6 August and Estimated Annual Distribution Component Information on 8 July 2026.

What AUST’s exposure comes down to

AUST provides market-capitalisation-weighted exposure to about 200 large Australian shares and uses SPI 200 futures to lower its volatility, which shows in its beta of 0.80. It carries a 0.49% management fee and distributes twice a year.