GII launches global gender equity fund
The Global Impact Initiative (GII) has announced the launch of its actively-managed impact investment Global Gender Equality fund which will be focused on women and girls.
The fund would invest in a portfolio of “carefully selected global companies which recognise and promote gender equality, to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future”.
The GII Global Gender Equality fund’s underlying fund manager would be Robeco, a global fund manager whose focus in this portfolio would be investing in companies that actively encouraged gender equality across board representation, workforce recruitment, management processes, remuneration and policies.
The fund would also aim to outperform the broad MSCI World index (Developed and Emerging Markets) and would make investments in social impact initiatives in Australia.
Commenting on the fund launch, GII’s founder and chief executive, Giles Gunesekera, said:
“This has been many years in the planning, and we are excited to be launching a Fund that offers investors the opportunity to have a significant impact on the lives and well-being of women and girls here in Australia and globally. The fact they can do so whilst also generating attractive returns from their investments will, we hope, encourage a swathe of investors into impact investing and more importantly into the area of gender equality.
“The advantage of a fund such as this is that the bigger it gets, the more social impact we can create. We are not just donating to charities, we are collaborating with them to measure, map and monitor social impact to the UN SDGs. We will be able to drive and accelerate positive social change via granular, intentional and measurable reporting on the social impact achieved.”
The Macquarie Wrap platform would be the first investment platform to add the Global Gender Equality fund to its investment menu.
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