Insights

Does Your ESG Policy Breach Fiduciary Duty?

Real Estate Profile – First State Super

First State Super has spent four years rationalising its real estate portfolio, selling $1 billion of old stock. Now, the fund has turned its eye on responsible investments in the residential sector, Florence Chong writes.

True Equity Diversification is Hard - Investment Innovation Institute [i3]

In Defence of Life-cycle Strategies

Asset Owners, Innovation, Retirement

Australian Catholic Super CIO Michael Block addresses some of the criticism of life-cycle strategies and argues that we should take a closer look at the concept behind it. “To always place a member who is 20 years old with a 60-year old member in the same strategy is clearly ridiculous,” he says.

The Average Company Doesn’t Matter

Equities

Investing is about capturing the outliers, Baillie Gifford’s Tom Slater says. In a study of long term buy-and-hold strategies, he found that more than 50 per cent of returns were driven by just three companies in the portfolio. But how do you find these outliers?

Wouter Klijn, Director of Content at the Investment Innovation Institute [i3]

The Merits of Complexity

Editorial, ESG

Simple is not always better, as even simple investment strategies can have unexpected consequences. But when embracing complexity, make sure you get all stakeholders on board.

Mind The Gap

Asset Allocation & Strategy, Fixed Income & Credit, Private & Alternative Markets

China Pacific Insurance Group CIO Ben Deng speaks to [i3] Insights about the challenges of closing the asset/liability gap in today’s low-yielding environment and shares his excitement about opportunities in Chinese private equity.

Michael Weaver - Investment Innovation Institute

Real Estate Profile – Sunsuper

Asset Owners, Real Estate

The $66 billion Sunsuper manages both external and direct property investment mandates. Florence Chong speaks with Sunsuper’s Michael Weaver about the fund’s strategy and the attraction of niche markets.

The Factors of Emerging Market Debt

Emerging Markets, Fixed Income & Credit

Finisterre Capital’s Raphael Biosse-Duplan says investors should worry less about the geographical definition of emerging markets and more about what factors set this asset class apart from others.

It Is All About Scale

In-house management

With several multi-billion-dollar mergers on the way, the Australian pension system is going through another round of consolidation. But even with all this merger activity, the role scale plays in the ability to compete on the global stage is often underestimated, Mark Wiseman says.

The Value of Engagement

ESG

There have been multiple attempts to quantify the contribution of ESG engagement to investment returns, but not all benefits are visible in the bottom line. A PRI-sponsored study, asks corporations what non-financial benefits they see from engagement.