Altius Green Bond Fund

The Fund’s purpose is to invest in green, sustainable and social bonds with a primary aim of targeting investments that will contribute to lower carbon emissions.

The Fund’s impact objective – to deliver positive environmental outcome – is to satisfy investors seeking investments with a climate focus and to support the transition to a low carbon economy.

The significant features and benefits of the Fund are:

• Investing in a combination of green, social and sustainable fixed interest securities;
  Access to a diversified pool of green and sustainable bonds;
• A clear positive environmental outcome to satisfy investors seeking investments with a climate focus and to support the transition to a clean energy economy;
• Independent sustainable committee overseas its investment universe;
• Managed by the Altius team, with an average of 30+ years of fixed income, cash and portfolio management experience;
• A portfolio holding a range of government and credit securities providing both impact and the potential to generate regular income quarterly; and
• Active investment management allows a positive response to risk and market movements. 

Investment return objective is to achieve returns in excess of the Bloomberg1 AusBond Composite 0+ Yr Index after fees over the medium term. 

The Fund invests in a range of green, sustainable and social bonds from providers that conduct their business and apply capital responsibly, giving consideration to a range of ESG issues. Considerations for green, sustainable and social bonds are outlined in the Green, Sustainable & Social Bond Policy.

In addition to satisfying our comprehensive fixed income investment process, securities considered for the Fund must satisfy criteria documented in the Cash and Fixed Interest Sustainability Policy (‘Sustainability Policy’) maintained by our Sustainability Advisory Committee (‘Committee’). 

The Sustainability Policy contains principles which form the basis of a ‘sustainability screen’ to determine an investment universe of security issuers. The Committee has appointed an independent external research provider (‘Adviser’) to monitor and rank eligible security issuers. In ranking security issuers, the Adviser considers factors including:

• environmental effects of the issuer;
• social consequences of their business; and
• quality of governance.
  

The Adviser’s ranking forms the basis on which the Committee determines if a security may be included in the investible universe of the Fund. The Fund invests in a broad range of fixed interest securities along with cash and similar investments.

These may include direct or indirect international and domestic holdings of government, corporate and asset backed issuers. The investment manager may also use derivatives for portfolio positioning and for managing market risk.

The Fund has broad investment guidelines permitting investments in fixed interest securities of 0-100% and cash and similar investments of 0-100%. Furthermore, these investments may be with government or corporate entities in a range of 0-100%. These broad ranges assist in our aim to position the Fund to achieve positive performance returns in a rising interest rate and/or a deteriorating credit environment.

The Fund has the ability to borrow funds for day to day operational activities, however, will generally not use gearing in implementing portfolio positions. The Fund may gain exposure to certain assets by investing through other investment vehicles including those managed by a related entity. 

This Fund is typically suited to investors who:

• are looking for a fund with a purpose to invest in green, sustainable and social bonds that will contribute to lower carbon emissions;
• require an exposure to fixed income investments that offer relatively stable returns and regular income;
• want a relatively high level of capital preservation; and
• have at least a three-year investment timeframe for holding their investment. 

Click here for our Fund Performance.

The Australian Unity Green Bond Fund - Ordinary Units (the Fund) is issued by Australian Unity Funds Management Limited (AUFML) ABN 60 071 497 115, AFS Licence No. 234454. Units in the Fund are issued by AUFML as Responsible Entity for the Fund. The information in this document is general information only and is not based on the objectives, financial situation or needs of any particular investor. You should obtain financial and legal advice relevant to your circumstances before making investment decisions. In deciding whether to acquire, hold or dispose of the product, investors should obtain the current Product Disclosure Statement (Australian Unity Green Bond Fund - Ordinary Units) to consider whether the product is appropriate for them. The information provided on this page is current at the time of publishing.

Management costs do not include the Fund’s transactional and operational costs some of which are recovered via the buy/sell spreads. For more information refer to ‘Transactional and operational costs’ in Section 3 of the Additional Information Document.