Markets

Evergreen Consultants has launched its proprietary Responsible Investing Grade Index (ERIG Index), which rates leading fund managers on the seven broadly accepted categories of responsible investing. These categories are those defined by the Responsible Investment Association of Australia (RIAA) as integral to a more responsible approach. According to founder Angela Ashton, the team at Evergreen…

A slew of acquisitions has made homegrown investment manager Perpetual (ASX: PPT) a truly global business. CEO Rob Adams says there’s plenty more to come. A 26 per cent increase in net profit, to $124.1 million, has book-ended what Adams described as a “transformational year,” in which multiple bolt-on acquisitions took Perpetual from a key…

The infrastructure sector is set to play a critical role in journey to net-zero carbon dioxide emissions. The globe will look to spend trillions over the coming decades to make it happen. Much of it will provide a tailwind for infrastructure investors. Despite concerns about the opposite, the path to net-zero emissions is a positive…

Private debt is starting to attract a broader range of investors, including high-net-worth individuals and smaller funds that are searching for yield combined with capital preservation. The attraction, alongside the asset class’ traditional supporters among the big super funds, has also been helped by increasing concerns about inflationary expectations – whether this will be transitory…

Flows into ESG-focused managed funds hit a record $2.9 billion during the June quarter, as total assets in that group jumped 66 per cent for the full 12 months, according to the latest report by Morningstar, for Australia and New Zealand. The report, based on a universe of 135 Australia and New Zealand ‘sustainable funds,’…

In the beginning, was the word and the word was ‘ethical’. Now we have lots of words: ‘responsible’, ‘sustainable’, ‘stewardship’, ‘environmental’, ‘social’ and ‘governance’. And perhaps a new word: ‘singularity’.The Singularity Group is a Zurich-based global investment boutique and research firm which uses quantitative techniques to seek out companies which have sustainable innovation as part…

Craig Hobart, a veteran of the business side of funds management, is thinking of putting a link to an ASIC podcast on his new company’s website. It provides the regulator’s views on cryptocurrencies. The new company is the Brisbane-based Monochrome Asset Management, formed in April by a crypto veteran Jeff Yew and where Hobart’s younger…

What is to become of all those office buildings and retail stores? They will be replaced, of course, at least in investor portfolios. The property sector is already pivoting to the new opportunities. If there’s an investment sector which has more than its fair share of disruption due to the impact of covid-19 it has…

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Looking back at the events of the last 18 months, it becomes abundantly clear what actions both investment advisers and fund managers should have taken, yet this offers little in the way of insights into the future. As it stands today, almost every active fund managers should have delivered 20%+…

Australia’s inflation rate was released yesterday, hitting 3.8% over the year to June, from 1.1% for the twelve months to March. Looking at media headlines this morning, some suggest the June quarter rise in inflation is following the 5.4% rise in the US and looks concerning. Here were the ABS figures: CPI +0.8% in Q2,…

Evergreen Ratings recently awarded the Alceon High Conviction Absolute Return Fund a “Commended” rating for its “tried and tested processes, with risk considerations at its core.” They suggest that fund manager Alceon Liquid Strategies (ALS) has a strong track record of consistently delivering above-average equity returns with low volatility. It demonstrated this capacity with positive…

Afterpay (ASX:APT) has been one of those rare share market success stories, where a start-up, having listed at $1.00 in May 2016, successfully develops a platform that captures a new market, the company’s name becomes a verb, and it receives a takeover offer pitched at $126.61 after just over five years on the stock exchange….