ESG

L1 Capital has announced the launch of its new L1 Catalyst Fund in July, aimed at unlocking company value via shareholder activism. The launch comes several years after listing of the firm’s L1 Long-Short Listed Investment Company (ASX: LSF), which has delivered strong long-term returns. Activist funds look to shake up a company’s management by…

We recently hosted our latest Market Thinker’s podcast on the topic of ‘cloud computing’, which despite seeing double-digit growth for close to a decade, is still considered an emerging ‘theme’. The pandemic has forced businesses large and small to accelerate their adoption of cloud computing and other disruptive technologies, and the resulting growth rates have…

The Annual General Meeting (AGM) season in Australia is becoming more of a forum for companies to update shareholders on the outlook for earnings, and for shareholders to push the ESG agenda, according to Martin Currie Australia, an active equity specialist investment manager. Reece Birtles, chief investment officer, and Will Baylis, portfolio manager, at Martin…

With interest rates at all-time lows, and term deposits lucky to be paying 0.5%, investors have simply been forced to look for alternative income-generating investments. The share market has obliged, but not only in the form of normal equity dividends – but in newer listed income-bearing investments. One of the most recent offerings came last…

Australian managed funds are the worst in the world for disclosing to investors what stocks they buy and other portfolio information crucial to making informed decisions. They are also poor at disclosing their ESG and stewardship policies and practices, compared with most other major countries. But the good news is that they are among the…

With less than a month left in 2020, broking firms, analysts and market economists start releasing their crystal-ball predictions for 2021. Most of these predictions are fairly stock-standard, such as “Goldman Sachs expects the S&P 500 to surge 19% from Monday’s close to 4,300 by the end of 2021, with gains tacking on an additional…

Trucost Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Analytics Sustainable development considerations In 2015, the United Nations launched the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that were adopted by 193 countries. The SDGs outline a set of objectives to be achieved by 2030 that aims to end poverty, hunger and inequality, while tackling climate change, improving health and education,…

The EU Taxonomy for Sustainable Activities In March 2018, the European Commission adopted an action plan on sustainable finance as part of a strategy to integrate environmental, social and governance considerations into its financial policy framework and mobilize finance for sustainable growth. In May 2018, the Commission released the first legislative package under the action…

Climate change is a systemic risk. Here’s how to handle it.

In the wake of the pandemic, investors have continued to pile money into variously labelled ESG/sustainable funds. According to data published by Morningstar, by the end of June 2020, assets in these funds surpassed $US1 trillion for the first time on record. The number of products offering sustainable strategies is also rising sharply with more asset…