Perennial Better Future Receives A$100 million Investment Mandate from Mercer
L to R: George Whiting, Emilie O’Neill, Damian Cottier and Christelle-Hannah Manila.
The Perennial Better Future Strategy, an actively managed portfolio focused on small and mid-cap companies that are shaping a better future, has been appointed to manage a A$100 million mandate from Mercer Investments.
A business of Marsh McLennan, Mercer is a highly regarded global asset management and consulting firm. The appointment demonstrates Mercer’s confidence in Perennial’s Better Future approach to sustainable investment.
Perennial Better Future Portfolio Manager, Mr Damian Cottier, says: “It is pleasing to be recognised for our differentiated and authentic approach to ESG and sustainable investing.”
“We are leveraging Perennial’s large and experienced investment team to find companies that are shaping a better future while pursuing strong, consistent returns for our investors. In this way, we are empowering investors and companies that are seeking to shape a better future.”
The Perennial Better Future Strategy provides investors with an opportunity to allocate capital in a way that empowers companies that are shaping a better future. While more traditional ESG or sustainable focused funds are mainly concerned with negative screening, the Perennial Better Future Strategy has a significant portion of the portfolio invested in companies which are focused on addressing global sustainability challenges.
These companies are often operating in global markets in areas that improve environmental or social outcomes such as healthcare, education, renewable energy, technology improving energy efficiency or resource use, as well as technology improving occupational health and safety outcomes.
“Mercer’s significant commitment to Perennial Better Future is a vote of confidence in our process and approach to sustainable investment. We are pleased to be recognised for our performance track record and authentic ESG-first investment strategy, which includes our proprietary in-house Environment, Social, Governance & Engagement (ESG&E) scoring system, and our dedicated company engagement to improve ESG outcomes in small & mid-cap ASX listed companies.”
Globally, Mercer advises on more than US$17 trillion in assets (as at 30 June 2021) and manages US$388 billion in assets (as at 31 March 2022). Mercer’s award-winning Sustainable Investment team of 25 dedicated specialists have been advising institutional investors on adopting sustainable investment approaches for over 10 years.
“Mercer’s long standing track record within the industry further highlights the true nature of an endorsement of this nature into the Perennial Better Future Strategy, and also the strength and the impact sustainable investing has on a global scale,” Cottier added.
During the last 12 months, the Perennial Better Future Trust (“the Trust”) has experienced strong growth in funds under management, which is now at ~A$220 million[1] on the back of increasing demand from the market for authentic ESG products.
“It is a key goal of the Trust to demonstrate that there is no performance trade-off investing in companies shaping a better future. Since its inception over four years ago, the Trust has delivered a +7.0% p.a. return net of fees, outperforming the S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries Accumulation Index benchmark by +5.1%[2]” Damian Cottier
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