Altius Sustainable Bond Fund
A diversified Australian fixed interest fund designed to align with specific personal and social values, without compromising on long-term returns.
The significant features and benefits of the Fund are:
- Contemporary investment process.
- Access to an active fixed interest manager.
- A diversified portfolio of Government and credit securities, with the potential to generate regular income paid quarterly.
- Access to the skills of a team of seasoned investment professionals who actively manage the portfolio throughout economic cycles.
- Prudent risk management.
- Expected low capital volatility.
- Access to a diversified Australian fixed interest portfolio that may align with the investor’s personal and social values.
The objective of the Fund is to outperform the benchmark (50% Reserve Bank of Australia Cash Rate and 50% Bloomberg AusBond Composite 0+Yr Index) after fees over rolling three year periods.
The Fund is an ‘active and diversified’ fixed income fund which aims to optimise returns for investors in all market conditions.
Our investment strategy is to apply a high conviction approach and to seek opportunities which take advantage of the mispricing of bonds at all stages of the economic cycle.
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.
A comprehensive risk management framework is employed, which includes diversification at the security and sector level.
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.
Due to the nature of its investment strategy, we consider the level of investment risk in the Fund to be low to medium.
Who should invest in the Fund?
This Fund is typically suited to investors who:
- require an exposure to fixed income investments that offer relatively stable returns and regular income;
- want a relatively high level of capital preservation;
- have at least a three-year investment timeframe for holding their investment; and
- are looking for a fixed income fund that considers environmental, social and governance issues.
Altius employs an active and diversified strategy that aims to capture the upside of the bond market, while avoiding returns less than cash in a rising rate or deteriorating credit environment.
Crucial in today’s environment, the Fund has a flexible mandate that enables it to shift duration and sector exposures. The team invests with high conviction and is willing to take significant positions away from the benchmark.
Risk management is embedded in strategy formulation and is a central driver of our investment process.
Click here for our Fund Performance.
This product is issued by Australian Unity Funds Management Limited ABN 60 071 497 115, AFS Licence No. 234454. The information contained above is not based on the objectives, financial situation or needs of any particular investor. In deciding whether to acquire, continue to hold or dispose of the product you should obtain the Product Disclosure Statement and consider whether the product is appropriate for you. The website was prepared in good faith and we accept no liability for any errors or omissions. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.
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.
Altius Asset Management (‘Altius’), Australian Unity’s wholly owned cash and fixed interest business, is the investment manager of the Fund.
Altius takes a diversified approach to cash and fixed interest funds management, combining both credit and duration strategies, and seeks to optimise returns for investors throughout all market conditions.
Altius incorporates environmental, social and governance (‘ESG’) risk assessment for its corporate and financial investments as part of its credit research due diligence, as set out in its Responsible Investment Policy.
The commitment to ESG assessment is core to the Altius team and the majority of its offerings, including the Fund.
Bill is well-known and highly regarded as a 33 year veteran in fixed interest asset management.
Prior to co-founding Altius in 2011, Bill was with Aberdeen Asset Management where he was head of Australian fixed income and chief executive officer. He also has worked as head of fixed income for Schroder Investment Management and Deutsche Asset Management. In his many investment roles, Bill has built successful fixed income businesses by developing proven investment processes and assembling strong investment teams.
Bill’s career in investment and financial services began in 1984 with the Treasury Corporation of Victoria as a fixed income portfolio manager. He has a long working relationship with both Chris Dickman and Gavin Goodhand, formed over many years.
Bill holds a bachelor of economics from Monash University.
Chris has 29 years of experience in investments and financial services, with particular expertise in fixed interest.
Before co-founding Altius, Chris was with ANZ Bank as director of the funds management and public sector business.
Prior to this he worked as director, fixed income at Credit Suisse Australia and head of Australian institutional fixed income and money markets at Commonwealth Bank of Australia. He has also been fixed income dealer at Deutsche Bank Australia, and dealer and portfolio manager at National Australia Funds Management. He has particular experience in new issues in debt capital markets, and debt and derivatives sales.
He holds a Bachelor of Economics from La Trobe University in Victoria, is accredited by the Australian Financial Markets Association and is a member of the Institute of Company Directors.
Gavin has 26 years of experience in fixed income markets, and was most recently with QBE Asset Management’s fixed income team as senior portfolio manager.
Prior to this, he held roles at Aberdeen Asset Management and Deutsche Asset Management as a senior portfolio manager, responsible for credit and interest rate portfolio management.
Gavin first worked with Bill Bovingdon at Treasury Corporation of Victoria, managing cash and fixed income investments, and has also worked with him at Aberdeen and Deutsche. His other experience includes dealer/portfolio manager – short term investments at Axiom Funds Management.
Gavin holds a Master of Business in Finance from the University of Technology, Sydney.
Relevant Documents
You should read the PDS, TMD (if applicable) or any Investment Memorandum (or other offer documents) related to this product before making an investment decision. These documents (if available) can be found at https://www.altiusam.com/, or if this is a "wholesale investor only" investment, can be viewed by contacting the Product Issuer identified on the aforementioned website.
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The issuer of this product is identified at the top of this page. The PDS and target market determination for the product are available in the Documents section of this listing. Prospective investors should consider the PDS before deciding to acquire the product. This product listing was vetted by and approved by the product issuer identified above before publishing. Investment Markets (Aust) Pty Ltd AFSL 527875 (IM) is not the issuer of the product.
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