ESG funds outperform Australian sectors
Managed funds which are aligned with environmental, social and governance principles have outperformed all Australian sectors over the last three years.
According to Rainmaker Information, ESG-aligned managed funds outperformed in all Australian sectors for the three years to August 2020.
The ESG sector emerged as the third best-performing sector overall with a median return of 6.3% p.a. across the three years. The best ESG fund was BetaShares Global Sustainability Leaders ETF which returned 23.5%.
This was better returns than income-focused Australian equities (0.8%), small-cap Australian equities (0.8%), Australian fixed income (4.1%) and large-cap Australian equities (5.6%).
John Dyall, head of investment research at Rainmaker Information, said there was “clearly a thirst” among investors to align themselves with companies that followed ESG principles.
Top of the list overall was large-cap international equities which returned a median of 10.2% followed by growth assets which delivered 7%.
The top-performing fund overall was Lakehouse Small Companies fund which returned 29% over the three-year period.
AUTHOR
Laura Dew
Recommended for you
Two active fund managers have outshone rivals to report double-digit share price growth of more than 40 per cent for FY25, but another has lost more than 50 per cent.
From multiple fund launches and personnel changes to major outflows and a scrapped deal, Money Management has collated the most significant news in the funds management industry over the past 12 months.
Magellan has closed out the financial year with funds under management approaching $40 billion and outlined its estimated performance fees.
BlackRock has successfully completed its acquisition of global credit investment manager HPS Investment Partners, with the intention now to create a US$190 billion private financing solutions platform.
