Asset owners head back to the forest amid natural capital boom

For some institutional investors, agribusiness and forestry assets bring back memories of the global financial crisis. But looking at it today, the potential diversification and monetisation benefits, alongside widespread net zero commitments, merits another look at the developing asset class of “natural capital”.

Not enough Sustainable Development Goals are being kicked

Borrowing a line from music artist Ben Lee, Australia’s industry super funds have long been telling us that “we’re all in this together”, which is why we should all be very concerned that, at the half-way point towards 2030, the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are all off track.

‘AusSuper owns this fight’: Perpetual backs mega-fund’s conviction on Origin Energy

Perpetual’s head of Australian equities, Vince Pezzullo, has publicly defended AustralianSuper’s defiance of Origin’s takeover bid, describing some comments by the bidding consortium as “disgraceful”. Pezzullo, HESTA’s Jeff Brunton and ACSI’s Ed John agreed there are merits to conducting transparent and public active ownership campaigns, but more often than not, it pays to engage in private.

AFCA appoints two industry directors

The Australian Financial Complaints Authority has appointed Raylene Bellottie and Yien Hong to its board as industry directors, replacing Claire Mackay and Andrew Fairley.