AM Corp joins ethical fund circle

AM Corporationhas formally launched a multi-manager ethical and socially responsible investment vehicle giving investors access to four of the industry’s top ethical managers.

The investment vehicle, the AM Ethical and Socially Responsible Investment Fund, will allow investors to access AMP Henderson Global Investor’s socially responsible international shares portfolio, Challenger Managed Investment’s socially responsible domestic shares portfolio, Australian Ethical Investment’s ethical domestic shares portfolio and LifeTrack Management’s domestic cash portfolio.

As for the fund’s investment process, AM says it will place the fund in its central investment pool, the AM Investment Trust (AMIT).

The AMIT uses the investment management approach known as the Managed Investment Managers (MIM)method. This method provides diversification across investment managers reducing the reliance on the performance of any single investment manager.

As the fund was only officially started in August this year, AM says it does not have a sufficient performance history to comment on. Despite this, the fund size is estimated at $1.4 million as at September, 2001.

The strategy for the fund is set by AM’s investment committee, which is made up of AM professionals as well as investment consultants independent to AM. The fund, which can invest more than 30 per cent of its assets in Australian equities and 20 per cent in international equities, aims to return at least 3 per cent above the rate of inflation over a rolling five-year period.