Challenger gets ethical

Challenger Portfolio Management is to become the latest group to jump on the ethical funds band wagon when it takes over management of the Tyndall Ethical Balanced Investment Trust next month

Challenger Portfolio Management is to become the latest group to jump on the ethical funds band wagon when it takes over management of the Tyndall Ethical Balanced Investment Trust next month.

The Tyndall fund will be renamed the Challenger Socially Responsive Investment Fund (Challenger SRI) and will invest in socially responsive companies selected from the top 300 companies in the ASX All Ordinaries Index.

Challenger general manager of managed investments, Martin Ashe, says the group is introducing the funds in response to client demand and because Challenger expects the investments to provide attractive returns.

“Not only has there been a demand from our clients for a fund of this type, but we believe that socially responsive companies will post attractive returns for their shareholders over the longer term,” he says.

The Tyndall Ethical Balanced Investment Trust currently manages about $12 million on behalf of retail investors. The new Challenger fund will offer both wholesale and retail funds with minimum investment in the retail fund pegged at $1,000.

On the wholesale side, Challenger already has a commitment of $5 million from a church organisation for the SRI wholesale fund and is currently talking with other institutions which have expressed interest in the fund.

Ashe says the investment process will consist of two distinct, complementary aspects.

“The first aspect involves an investment analysis of each company, applying Challenger Portfolio Management’s active ‘quality/value’ investment approach. The second aspect involves an assessment of the social responsiveness of those companies which present the best investment opportunities.”