Portfolio Partners’ SRI fund up and running

Portfolio Partners has launched a new Australian sustainability fund and poached Amanda McCluskey from BT to run it.

The Long/Short Sustainability Fund will see McCluskey handling research and Portfolio Partners’ portfolio manager Ian Lang handling investing.

The fund hopes to deliver “profit with principles” and will be looking for stocks with sustainable practices, such as environmental protection and human capital policies.

According to the Centre for European Economic Research, companies which qualify for inclusion in a sustainability portfolio tend to be less volatile and yield positive results in the long-term.

The centre argues that these types of companies with these principles are usually more viable and have better growth prospects. It also found these companies benefited were less likely to suffer from reputation damage, litigation and compensation payouts.

Portfolio Partners will use sustainability guidelines for stock selection and this will be combined with traditional financial analysis.

Sustainability funds are already operating in Europe and the US, and McCluskey said although Portfolio Partners was the first to launch a fund here, she expected others will follow.

“We are certainly seeing in the UK that this is a growth area,” she said.

McCluskey said there are no plans to expand the investment style into other asset classes.

Initially, the new fund will be wholesale only, but it will be available through platforms later this year.

However, investors with access to Portfolio Partners professional selection PDS will be able to access the sustainability fund with a minimum investment of $40,000, which is what the platform minimum will be as well.