Marie Miyashiro

Nanuk Asset Management (Nanuk), an industry leader in sustainable and responsible investing, has appointed Marie Miyashiro to the newly created role of Senior Investment Analyst as the firm experiences strong growth.

Marie Miyashiro has over 20 years of experience in global equities research and was most recently Global Equities Analyst at Platinum Asset Management Limited. Prior to Platinum Asset Management, Ms Miyashiro has also previously held roles at AMP, Credit Suisse and Citi Research.

Nanuk Asset Management is exclusively focused on sustainably themed responsible investments – specifically, investing globally in listed companies whose activities and practices contribute to or benefit from the transition to greater global sustainability.

In 2022, Money Magazine recognised the Nanuk New World Fund as ‘Australia’s best international shares ESG fund’ and in March 2022 the Nanuk New World Fund was listed on the ASX as an exchange traded managed fund under the ticker code NNUK.

Paul Chadwick, Managing Director of Nanuk Asset Management, said that in addition to Marie’s strong experience in global equities she also has extensive expertise in the Asian equities sector, particularly in Japan, as well as extensive experience with infrastructure and utility projects. This will extend Nanuk’s footprint in these growing markets.

“Investing in areas related to sustainability shows no signs of slowing down. Our focus is global and the ongoing expansion at Nanuk comes as we continue to see an increase in investors and advisers seeking global equities strategies that deliver both strong returns and positive environmental benefits,” Mr Chadwick said.

I am delighted to have Marie join our talented team. Marie provides further depth to the Nanuk investment team as she brings highly valuable insights into the global equities market from a career spanning over two decades. Her deep knowledge and understanding of the market will play a pivotal role in our active approach moving forward.”

Marie joins a talented investment team at Nanuk which includes Chief Investment Officer, Tom King, London based portfolio manager Binya Even, along with portfolio manager’s Jane Henderson, Tristan Patience and Peter Wilmshurst.

Marie holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of New South Wales and is also a Chartered Financial Analyst. Marie is based in Sydney and started with Nanuk on August 16, 2022.

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Paul Chadwick

Nanuk Asset Management, an industry leader in sustainable and responsible investing,has announced the launch of its new Impact Calculator.  The Impact Calculator provides a personalised view for investors allowing them to estimate the individual impact of their investment in the Nanuk New World Fund.

The Nanuk Impact Calculator provides investors with an easy-to-use digital tool for calculating the involvement of underlying investments across: Education, Food Production and Distribution, Healthcare, Renewable Energy, Waste Management and Recycling, and Water Supply and Treatment.

The underlying data for the Impact Calculator is provided by Sustainable Platform, an independent research company and one of the world’s leading sustainability data providers. The Impact Calculator utilises Sustainable Platform’s proprietary categorisation of companies’ revenues to estimate the revenue associated with selected Sustainable Development Goal targets. The methodology captures direct and indirect contributions of companies.

Nanuk Asset Management is exclusively focused on sustainably themed responsible investments – specifically, investing globally in listed companies whose activities and practices contribute to or benefit from the transition to greater global sustainability. According to Sustainable Platform, the Nanuk New World Fund provides 14% higher contribution to UN SDG’s, 9% lower Greenwashing Risk and 19% lower Reputation risk than their broad coverage of global equities.

The momentum behind interest in ESG and sustainable assets amongst investors and financial advisers in Australia shows no signs of abating. According to a report released yesterday by the Responsible Investment Association Australasia (RIAA), responsible investing assets are growing at 15 times the rate that overall Australian professionally managed investments have grown.

The 2021 RIAA report provides the most comprehensive review of the responsible investment sector and highlighted that only one quarter of investment managers are practicing a leading approach to responsible investing. Nanuk Asset Management has been recognised as one of the top 10 responsible investment leaders’ by RIAA in the 2021 report. This acknowledges Nanuk’s commitment to responsible investing; their explicit consideration of environmental, social and environmental factors in investment decision making; their strong and collaborative stewardship and their transparency in reporting activity, including the societal and environmental outcomes being achieved by the firm.

Chief Investment Officer of Nanuk, Tom King said: “Australians increasingly want to direct their investments towards companies that are helping to deliver social and environmental benefits as well as providing a decent return on their investment. But investors have little insight into how effective those investment funds are in achieving that.  Sustainable Platform’s data allows us to present a clearer picture of the areas in which our investments are contributing.”

Nanuk Asset Management is one of the few Australian asset managers dedicated to investing in industries related to global sustainability and resource efficiency. Nanuk invests only in companies whose activities materially contribute to improving global sustainability. Nanuk Asset Management recently reached the $500 million assets under management milestone. 

Key to preventing greenwashing are transparency tools

As many investment firms attempt to ride the ‘green wave’, Nanuk highlights the risks of products not providing what investors believe are increasing and therefore there is a greater need for transparency and new tools to ensure funds don’t misrepresent the nature of their investments and the extent to which they are invested in sustainable solutions as opposed to just avoiding areas such as fossil fuels.

“With the proliferation of products claiming ESG credentials, the industry needs to be more accountable and improve the reporting on how their funds are delivering on the promise of their responsible investment approaches.  ESG terminology is confusing, reliable data is scarce and there is no consistent way for investors to know who is spinning a story and who is walking the talk.

As the rapid growth in ESG investments accelerate we believe investors will increasingly demand greater transparency on the alignment of their investments with their expectations. The Nanuk Impact Calculator provides both an independent assessment of the involvement in specific areas as well as a simple and easy to relate to the illustration of the significance of these amounts.” concluded Mr King.

Paul Chadwick, Managing Director at Nanuk Asset Management, said, “This $500 million milestone is representative of the growing recognition that investment in areas aligned with improving global sustainability can also deliver strong investment outcomes.”

“At Nanuk we are very proud of our recent recognition by the RIAA as a ‘responsible investment leader’ and the development of the new impact calculator as a user-friendly complement to existing ESG reporting. We strongly believe that our focus on sustainable investing will help us continue to deliver better outcomes for investors”.

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Following a record election turnout, Paul Chadwick has been successfully elected to represent the global AIMA Board, marking the first Australian to join the global ranks in almost a decade.  Taking over local chair reins from Chadwick is Dr Alistair Rew, Head of Alpha Strategies at AMP Capital.

Rew will commence the two-year local chair role in late September and continue his current role as chair of the AIMA Australia Investor Advisory Group.

The two separate election results speak to the growing voice, credibility and presence of AIMA Australia, says Michael Gallagher, AIMA Australia General Manager.

“AIMA has long recognised the resourcefulness, ingenuity and intelligence of its Australian chapter, and has adopted many of the concepts and initiatives that have successfully galvanized local membership and energised the sector here,” he said.

“We have doubled our local membership in four years, in which time alternative investments have gained market share and respect from investors across the spectrum.”

Commenting on his global appointment, Chadwick said: “I look forward to bringing more of our local perspectives and experiences to the global table and continuing to support industry growth and development over what are likely to be two fascinating years for markets as quantitative easing ceases and more powerful technologies continue to transform practices.”

Chadwick and Rew will be among several leaders to address the AIMA Australia Annual Forum in Sydney. The Forum will feature fellow Australian export Shane Finemore, Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer of Manikay Partners and Nobel Gulati, CEO of Two Sigma Advisers, both from New York.  The AIMA Australia Forum will be held in Sydney at the Westin on Wednesday 12 September 2018.

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Shane Finemore

Nobel Gulati, CEO of Two Sigma Advisers and Shane Finemore, Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer of Manikay Partners will provide keynote addresses at the Forum that has become an internationally renowned event for the hedge fund community.

Two Sigma Advisers is a pioneer in blending computer-driven, model-based trading systems with culture and research to unearth value.  Manikay Partners, also New York based, was founded in 2008 by Shane Finemore, regarded as one of Australia’s most successful investment manager exports. Finemore will join AIMA Australia Chair Paul Chadwick for the Forum’s Fireside chat, known for its unique candour and rare insights.

The Forum will tackle the issues and challenges that continue to reshape investment management from all angles, including fundamental drivers, rising levels of technology, growing ability to isolate alpha from market beta, regulatory change, shifting demographics, the importance of culture and an ever-growing focus on ESG within portfolios.

AIMA Australia General Manager Michael Gallagher said the growth of the Forum, in scope, influence and size, has been aligned with a substantial increase in AIMA’s local membership, which he attributes to the convergence of traditional and alternative investment managers.

“Our membership in Australia has doubled in the last four years which signals a healthy industry, and more so, a growing recognition of the need to work together to best plan for the future, given the speed at which it is coming,” Gallagher said.

“Markets are at an inflection point where many emerging segments haven’t been tested in a hawkish economic environment, so it’s critical that we apply lessons learned and forge ahead with enlightened policies and portfolios that anticipate potential market consequences.

“AIMA has stepped up its education program and engagement activities in recent years to glean deeper insights from a wider range of managers and investors, strengthening its voice as sector globalisation continues.

“We introduced a new Super Trustees Forum in 2017 to address the information needs of trustees who are adopting integrated approaches to portfolios that are more concerned with outcomes than asset silos and terminology.”

The AIMA Australia Annual Forum will take place on Wednesday 12 September at The Westin Hotel in Sydney as the main event of what the industry calls ‘Hedge Fund Week’, which features other industry initiatives, including the annual awards and charity event, Hedge Funds Rock.

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Paul Chadwick, Chairman of AIMA Australia, said the proposed changes should help to unlock significant potential within the local investment sector and make Australia a more dynamic and vibrant hedge fund centre in Asia-Pacific.

“We commend Treasury for its thorough and considered approach to formulating an IMR that addresses many impediments that have deterred investment into Australian based hedge funds,” Mr Chadwick said.

“AIMA has worked closely with Treasury over the last four years to bring local and global intelligence to the IMR policy discussion and we are very pleased to see that many of our recommendations have been incorporated,” he said.

“We believe the IMR in its amended form will bring clarity to the taxation treatment of foreign capital invested in Australia, and so will benefit the Australian hedge fund management industry. It will bolster local fund inflows and appeal to international funds considering expanding operations to Australia.”

However, Mr Chadwick said that AIMA will continue to voice its concerns to the government about aspects of the IMR legislation which could penalise smaller funds and funds in the process of growing their investor base.

AIMA will be conducting member events to discuss the implications of the draft changes and will consider submitting a further response to the government.

Industry consultation for this fourth IMR draft legislation ends 9 April 2015.

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Gallagher was chosen to fill the role previously held by Brett Ireland who has decided to focus solely on a full-time role elsewhere within the financial services industry.

Gallagher has over twenty years experience in the finance industry including more than ten years in alternative investment management. Most recently he was CEO of Kima Capital Management, the Australian and Hong Kong based fund manager he co-founded. Prior to Kima, he was Head of Australasian Equities for Rand Merchant Bank, overseeing the Asian proprietary trading, fund of funds, ETFs and structured products divisions.

He has also held senior equity proprietary trading, derivatives, structuring and supervisory roles at Rand Merchant Bank and Macquarie Bank in Australia, South Africa and the UK.

AIMA Australia Chairman, Paul Chadwick, said Mr Gallagher is extremely well positioned to represent Australian hedge funds and their contribution to the financial services sector.

“Michael brings deep knowledge of the sector, understanding of the strategic and operational challenges of running a hedge fund and the passion to make Australia a vibrant hub for hedge funds and investors,” Chadwick said.

“His insights will greatly benefit members and our dialogue with investors, government representatives and regulators,” he said, while also commending Brett Ireland for his contribution to growing AIMA’s relevance and credibility in recent years.

“Michael will coordinate with AIMA’s various groups and stakeholders including its Executive Committee, Regulatory Committee and Education Committee, both locally and regionally to refine and implement the association’s strategic plans.”

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