Equities

Evergreen Ratings, a subsidiary of Evergreen Consultants and a leading research house that specialises in the analysis of closed ended and complex sustainable investment vehicles has given the Aura Venture Fund II a “Commended” rating, highlighting the funds strong team of venture capital specialists. The alternatives wealth manager, Aura Group, recently opened its second venture…

ESG may well be the most commonly used term in financial markets today, replacing growth, or quality in pitchbooks the world over. However, growth in regulatory pressure and concerns of ‘greenwashing’ have seen some experts calling for the end of the term ‘ESG integrated’ when it comes to defining investment funds. Global asset manager Robeco…

Australia’s longest standing responsible investment manager, Australian Ethical, has continued to sustain the top quartile performance of their Australian equity strategies, with a surge in assets under management seemingly having little influence on their returns. In their latest quarterly update, the group highlighted the events of COP26, but with a broader focus suggesting the conference…

Komatsu Australia, the local arm of the global manufacturer and distributor of earthmoving equipment, has taken a step into the future by embracing virtual reality (VR) technology to help train and upskill its staff. The company has called upon Brisbane-based virtual reality scale-up, Next World Enterprises, to train and upskill its RTOs in line with…

If you are an avid reader of the daily financial press, you could be forgiven for thinking that inflation is here to stay and that its time to stock-up on gold, inflation-linked bonds and cash to protect yourself. Such is the fervour of the inflation debate that headlines are now calling-out central banks to raise…

Is it the chicken, or is it the egg? Does a certain kind of personality gravitate to becoming a “quant” manager, or do quant managers end up thinking in a systematic way? “I’m pretty sure that a large part of it is innate,” says Andre Roberts, senior portfolio manager in the Invesco Quantitative Strategies (IQS) team. “Certainly,…

Since its founding 35 years ago, Australian Ethical has been at the forefront of responsible investing. The firm was an ESG investor before ESG became the buzzword it is today. In 2020, AE’s experience and approach came to the fore, with assets under management doubling on the back of strong investment performance and positive impacts….

Reflecting on a decade of investing in emerging markets, specialist asset manager Martin Currie succinctly summarised its experience by highlighting that “surprises are nothing new.” Such has been the rapid rate of change in the expansive world of less-developed economies that things rarely turn out as expected, but also, and arguably most importantly, the worst…

Sustained strong performance has not caused complacency at global equity manager Munro Partners, which this week announced the launch of a new ‘climate’ dedicated equity strategy. After successfully navigating the taper tantrum, Trump election and the pandemic, CIO Nick Griffin has identified what Munro believes is a $30 trillion opportunity, and split its Climate “area…

Niche small-and-micro-cap Australian equities asset manager NAOS Asset Management has launched a unique investment fund that focuses on private businesses in Australia. The fund is headed up by Sebastian Evans, also chief investment officer and managing director of the firm. Why private businesses? NAOS has shifted its focus onto the private sector after successful listed…

While equity markets pedaled sideways over the September quarter, volatility has returned, causing a pullback and a lot of pain for global fund managers. Nick Griffin, founder and CIO at Munro Partners, has responded, with the firm’s Munro Global Growth fund returning 3.3 per cent over the period, while the MSCI World ex-Australia index was…

‘Inflation risk is real’. ‘Federal Reserve turns hawkish’. ‘Tapering to begin in November’. These were the headlines that followed Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) member Randal Quarles’ speech at a conference last week. Yet the headlines once again highlight the risk of confirmation bias that afflicts even the most objective, professional investors. While the headlines…