Macquarie is among Australian funds, including superannuation funds, benefiting from heightened tensions around the world over the past year, with almost $1 billion in investments tied to major US defence companies.
In the latest flashpoint, Australia is ramping up its involvement in a multinational strike in the Middle East, with the government on Monday agreeing to a US request to provide planes and personnel for a military operation.
Shares in the world's biggest publicly listed arms producers and military service providers have benefited in a year in which global conflict zones have risen, raising questions about whether Australian superannuation funds should continue to profit from global tragedies.
Stock price data on the top 12 listed global armament companies, based on a list by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), show a share price rise of 30 per cent on average since last September.
Nasdaq data from June shows Macquarie holds a $US465 million investment in one of those firms, Northrop Grumman, a global security firm that makes drones for the US Navy.
It also holds a $US456 million investment in Raytheon, the world's largest missile maker, and a $US51 million investment in US fighter-jet maker Lockheed Martin, according to a report in Crikey on Monday.
Sara Bice, a research fellow at the University of Melbourne's Centre for Public Policy, said investment in arms production and defence was an issue super funds needed to carefully consider.
"For a very long time, the question has been how far up the chain do super funds need to go in terms of their decision making," she said.
"This may be a new area of risk that super funds need to be concerned about."
Shares in the world's top arms-producing companies have risen in a year in which the number of conflict zones in Europe, the Middle East and Africa has grown.
The top 12 producers, according to the SIPRI data, includes companies such as Boeing, which makes commercial aircraft as well as defence and missile systems. The list does not include Chinese companies.
Lockheed Martin was the biggest producer of arms in 2012, according to SIPRI.
A Macquarie spokeswoman said Macquarie had a US funds management business which invested third-party investors' funds in accordance with "specific, pre-agreed funds management mandates".
"Often these investment mandates require fund managers to invest in a portfolio reflecting a market index and hence require the manager to invest in stocks that make up that index." AMP, the Commonwealth Bank and Westpac also have funds tied to the global defence groups, however the investments are small in comparison to their larger positions.
The Commonwealth Bank has $US31 million in Northrop Grumman and Westpac has $US35 million in Northrop and $US23 million in Raytheon.
AMP has $US33 million tied to Lockheed Martin and $US27 million to Northrop and $US29 million in Raytheon. An AMP spokeswoman declined to comment.
Nine out of the 12 biggest producers identified by SIPRI are based in the US. The remaining three - Thales, Finmeccanica and BAE Systems - are based in France, Italy and the UK respectively.
The company with the biggest share price rise was Italian firm Finmeccanica, whose shares rose 73 per cent since September last year.
