AXA Investment Managers’ (AXA IM) fully integrated environmental, social and governance (ESG) smart beta equity pool fund has outperformed its benchmark by 4.69 per cent, while it also received a ‘recommended’ rating from research house, Lonsec.
AXA’s IM ACWI SmartBeta Equity fund received the ‘recommended’ rating from Lonsec as it offered investors a low-fee, systematic approach to global equities, with less volatility than the benchmark, while it allowed for ESG considerations.
The fund also received a ‘high’ Morningstar sustainability rating and responsible investment certification from the Responsible Investment Association Australasia (RIAA), AXA IM said.
Managed by AXA IM’s Rosenberg Equities team, the fund was designed to give Australian long-term investors a more efficient way of capturing global equity market beta, while it avoided the limitations of both market cap-weighted indices and alternative weighted schemes, the firm said.
Since the fund launched it achieved an annualised return of 18.4 per cent.
