Nicola Wakefield Evans

The 30% Club Australia, a leading organisation campaigning for 30% women on ASX boards, has announced new targets for ASX 201- 300 companies to meet the 30% target by the end of 2021 to mark International Women’s Day.

Previously only ASX 200 companies were targeted to meet the voluntary target by the 30% Club.

“This is an amazing achievement as Australia is the first country in the OECD region to achieve significant targets without regulatory intervention, ahead of UK, US and Canada. It’s been proven that gender diversity can be reached without quotas and intervention as long as there are passionate advocates for diversity across ASX Chairs and Directors,” said Nicola Wakefield Evans, Chair 30% Club.

Last year was a watermark point for corporate Australia as for the first-time women accounted for more than 30% of board positions across ASX 50 (32.7%) and ASX 100 (31.3%).

“However, the number of female company directors for the ASX201-300 stood at 19.7 per cent, with still 28 companies with no females on their boards.

“So, in a way the hard work is just beginning as the 30% Club increases its advocacy.  We have set up a new Investment Banking/Private Equity Working Group to seek greater support from business and the investment community, and to increase their contribution towards building gender diverse boards.

“The community at large expects the composition of boards to reflect the broader Australian population. I believe the time is right to look beyond ASX 200 companies to also include the small cap companies sector,” notes Ms Wakefield Evans.

Susan Roberts, Head of Investor Working Group 30% Club added: “We will continue to work closely with investors from the investment management sector and Australian super funds to focus on achieving diversity on ASX300 Boards.

“Large super funds and fund managers are leading the way in advocating for gender diversity, based on the belief that companies that are well governed and sustainable will deliver positive results over the long term” says Ms Roberts.

The latest Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) gender diversity figures show women now make up 29.7 per cent of all ASX200 board positions, an increase of over 10 percentage points since the target was set in 2015.

There are still three boards in the top ASX200 with no women on their boards: ARB Corporation, Emeco Holdings and TPG Telecom. And there are 50 boards on the ASX200 with only one woman on their board.

The 30% Club in Australia was established in May 2015. The first three years of the Club’s establishment in Australia have been a period of intense activity with the signing on of 95 Chair members, 14 signatories to the investors’ Statement of Intent, growth in participation of women on ASX companies’ boards, and the engagement of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) as the secretariat support for the 30% Club in Australia.

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Susan Roberts

The 30% Club Australia, which is campaigning for 30% women on ASX 200 boards by the end of 2018, is calling for the investment community to engage on the issue of board diversity and to consider diversity when voting on the Report & Accounts and the appointment and re-election of board members.

“This call comes at a time when more and more global and Australian investment managers and asset owners are signing up to the Statement of Intent for Investors,” says Susan Roberts, Chair of the 30% Club Investors Working Group.

The 30% Club Investor Group’s Statement of Intent represents the increasing number of Australian companies that subscribe to and actively promote the goals and philosophies of the 30% Club. These companies publicly endorse and encourage progress on gender diversity.

Roberts notes “It is heartening to see that the investment community and shareholders are increasingly looking closely at the ESG and ethical aspects of how listed companies are running their boards and how they are configured.

“Large super funds and investment managers are becoming increasingly concerned about board diversity and actively engaging with management to accelerate the change in boards.”

Roberts says “Whilst we are strongly supportive of voluntary targets over quotas, we believe that it is important that investors actively oversee companies’ actions. We encourage investors to engage directly with companies in the first instance. However, we believe that, over time, this should extend to AGM voting in the event of inadequate leadership.”

Companies that have already signed the Statement of Intent include Aberdeen Asset Management, AMP Capital, Australian Ethical Investment, Blackrock Investment Management (Australia), CareSuper, Cbus, Colonial First State Global Asset Management, Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation (CSC), First Super, HESTA, Hostplus, IFM Investors, Principal Global Investors (Australia), State Street Global Advisors (SSGA), and VicSuper.

30% Club Chair, Patricia Cross adds “The recent Australian Institute of Company Directors’ Quarterly Gender Diversity report showed that the monthly rate of female appointments to ASX 200 boards declined from 44% in 2016 to just 30% in 2017. This is a very disappointing result.”

Cross says “I think there is conscious bias in terms of how we put our boards together and that becomes very clear from some of the 30% Club research when chairs and board directors talk about fit and style. There is a real aversion to putting people on boards they perceive will not be part of that fit.

“I also believe that the myth of merit is alive and well and more work needs to be done on how diversity matters rather than why diversity matters. There is a lot of research that points to the correlation between female representation in leadership and board and return on equity or performance of companies. Research is done in various ways but the overwhelming conclusion is that diversity matters in producing better results.

“A very healthy and necessary change has occurred over the last 10 years within the Australian superannuation industry whereby the focus is on the long-term return to their members.

“Some fund managers continue to manage money on behalf of the beneficiaries and are focused on the short-term. But what is now happening is that the beneficial owners are saying enough is enough -we want to look at long-term wealth creation, we want companies that are well governed and we want companies that are going to be sustainably put together in a way that they can deliver wealth for us over the long-term. Diversity is a critical component of that,” notes Cross.

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Ms Roberts has more than 25 years’ experience in the financial services sector, most recently as CEO of Lazard Asset Management Pacific Co. in Australia and Chair of the Investor Working Group for the 30% Club.

On making the announcement Chair of the ZAS Board, Winsome Hall, thanked Ms Osborne for her service.
“I’d like to acknowledge Catherine’s time on our board, in particular her work overseeing the claims committee, as well as the audit and compliance of the Board,” said Ms Hall.

“Susan’s extensive experience means she is in a great position to continue this momentum and I look forward to welcoming her to the Board.,” she said.

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Since its inception in October 2013, the Fund has returned 24.60% annualised (net of fees) versus the MSCI World return of 19.67% over the same period.[1]

The Fund invests in listed companies, globally, that the team consider have an ‘economic’ franchise’, meaning companies which they believe possess a combination of predictable earnings and large competitive advantages. The Fund invests in 25-50 companies.

It aims to be a lower risk global equity option by only investing in companies that the team believes have reliable or forecastable earnings. It does not generally invest in banks, resources or tobacco stocks. The team believes that revenues of banks and resources are inherently more unpredictable and therefore the antithesis of an economic franchise.

Sydney-based Warryn Robertson, who is one of the Portfolio Manager/Analysts for the Fund said: “We seek to reduce uncertainty in equity markets by only investing in companies that have historically shown higher earnings certainty. This predictability means they should be easier to forecast and therefore less likely to have the negative events that diminish shareholder value.”

Susan Roberts, Chief Executive Officer of Lazard Asset Management Pacific Co said: “This Fund is intended for Australian investors who wish to allocate to global equities but do so through what we believe is a lower risk option. The exclusion of banks and resources stocks makes this Fund particularly appealing from a diversification point of view.”

This Fund will be managed by the same team of portfolio managers and analysts that already run the highly successful Lazard Global Listed Infrastructure Equity Fund which has a strong ten-year track record.

The team, including Bertrand Cliquet, Matthew Landy, John Mulquiney, Warryn Robertson and Anthony Rohrlach are located in London, New York and Sydney and draw on the experience and expertise of over 250 Lazard investment professionals worldwide.

Lazard Asset Management offers a range of equity, fixed-income, and alternative investment products worldwide. As of 30 September 2015, Lazard Asset Management and its affiliated asset management companies in the Lazard Group managed A$234 billion of client assets.[2]

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[1] As at 30 November 2015. Investments can go up and down. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future performance. Net returns are quoted after the deduction of Management Costs. Performance assumes reinvestment of all distributions. Date of inception is 1 October 2013.
[2] As at 30 September 2015

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The Lazard Select Australian Equity Fund, which is a high conviction, benchmark unaware Fund, was established in 2002 and has outperformed the S&P/ASX 200 since inception. This Fund was also upgraded to ‘highly recommended’ by research house Zenith earlier in 2015.

The seven-member Lazard Australian equities team is headed up by Rob Osborn and Dr Philipp Hofflin, who have worked together for more than 20 years.

Rob Osborn, Australian Equity Portfolio Manager/Analyst, said: “We take a long-term view and build portfolios that can be quite different than those of our competitors and the index. For over a decade, our process of identifying intrinsic value has remained relatively unchanged and over time, we believe this has provided our clients with a compelling rate of return.”

Meanwhile, the Lazard Australian Diversified Income Fund has been upgraded to ‘recommended’ by Lonsec. The Fund is designed to provide regular, tax effective income that grows over time. It sources income by investing in Australian companies which it believes have sustainable dividends, or by investing in cash, or a combination of the two, depending on where Lazard believes the best opportunities exist.

Susan Roberts, Chief Executive Officer of Lazard Asset Management Pacific Co said: “The feedback that we are receiving from financial advisors, as well as our wholesale clients, is that investors are looking for high conviction, concentrated strategies that are different from the benchmark. This has been Lazard Asset Management’s specialty for decades, across domestic, emerging and global portfolios.”

The team has also been recognised through the researchers’ awards over the last two-years. The team won the 2014 Lonsec Australian Equities (Broad Cap) Fund Manager of the Year Award and also was a finalist in the Zenith Investment Partners/Professional Planner 2015 Fund Awards for the Australian Equities – Large cap category.

Lazard Asset Management offers a range of equity, fixed-income, and alternative investment products worldwide. As of 30 September 2015, Lazard Asset Management and its affiliated asset management companies in the Lazard Group managed A$234 billion of client assets.[1]

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[1] As at 30 September 2015

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• Lazard Australian Equity Fund
• Lazard Select Australian Equity Fund
• Lazard Australian Diversified Income Fund
• Lazard Global Small Cap Fund

Lazard Asset Management Pacific Co CEO Susan Roberts said the move was in response to increasing demand and enquiry from the ever growing Self-Directed and Self-Managed Super Fund markets within Australia.

“As awareness of both the performance of our funds and understanding of our active management – value investing approach has increased; we have seen heightened interest from private investors. “

“This is a sign of the understanding of the benefits and rewards of a disciplined and intensive research based approach to stock picking.”

“Our approach to investing is based on bottom-up research focused on identifying under-valued companies and investing in them with a long-term time horizon. “

“It’s an approach that is resonating with investors and it’s something the firm has been doing successfully for many years.” Ms. Roberts said.

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