Super fund, Omega start sustainable bond investing

Omega Global Investors, a fixed-income asset manager, has won a $170-million mandate from Local Government Super to invest in sustainable assets.

The $6-billion superannuation fund and Melbourne-based Omega have developed a strategy over nine months to make bond investments along environmental, social and governance lines that seek to reinforce the United Nations-backed Principals for Responsible Investment.

Omega director of investments Mathew McCrum says investments will be made in so-called green bonds issued by mulitlateral institutions such as the World Bank. Bonds issued by Scandinavian countries such as Norway are also favored. Norway does not have a nuclear power industry, stresses the development of renewable energy and gender equality while maintaing a sound fiscal position.

Local Government Super manages the retirement savings for current and former New South Wales local government employees. It says it has about $3.3 billion responsibly invested through the Australian stock market, international shares, bonds, property and private-equity investments.

Omega was started in 2008 by former Vanguard Investments colleagues McCrum, Andrew Gruskin and George Vassos.

Macquarie Global Investments holds a 19.9-per-cent stake in Omega, which has about $1.8 billion in assets under management.

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Geopolitical risks rewire asset allocation ‘operating system’: GIC

Some investors are “missing the point” of geopolitical risks by equating them to the disruptions from conflicts and wars, according to GIC chief economist Prakash Kannan, but in reality, geopolitical risk is no longer episodic or peripheral. This means investors need to think harder about inflation and country composition in their portfolio.

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