AMP offers direct avenue to sustainable investment
Michael Anderson
AMP Capital Investors has launched a new fund to give retail investors direct access to its sustainable investments approach.
The new AMP Capital Sustainable Share Fund utilises the same investment philosophy as AMP’s existing strong performer, the Sustainable Future Australian Share Fund.
AMP Capital Investors director of sustainable funds Michael Anderson said: “We’ve been offering the existing fund to wholesale clients, institutional clients and often through super funds through member choice options. We’ve also been offering it on platforms to financial advisers.
“We’ve got to a point where we’ve seen it’s been very successful and there’s been a lot of growing interest. We’ve now reached about $2 billion under management under this capability and it’s been growing strongly, and we’ve continued to get enquiries from retail investors who didn’t have easy access to the product. So, as of today, it’s available directly to retail investors through the AMP Private Clients channel,” he added.
AMP feels the investment process offered by the fund is very attractive because it takes into account intangible factors in its valuation of companies.
According to the financial services firm’s analysis, intangibles — such as staff management practices and occupational health and safety procedures — currently make up 77 per cent of a company’s value.
“We think our approach has been a significant contributor to our performance. This better understanding of risk and growth and therefore better valuation of companies has actually flown through to our portfolio performance,” Anderson said.
The existing sustainability product offered by AMP has delivered a return of 18.36 per cent per annum before tax and fees for the five-year period ending March 31, 2007, and has been a top performer in all-manager industry surveys.
Like all other funds included in the AMP Private Clients range, the Capital Sustainable Share Fund requires a minimum investment of $30,000.
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