Synergy launches SRI portfolios

Synergy Investment Programme is launching four new model portfolios, with a focus on socially responsible investment.

Thursday, March 30th 2017, 6:00AM

by Susan Edmunds

Synergy is a DIMS provided by Funds Administration New Zealand. Consilium NZ offers FANZ investment research to design the portfolios.

Synergy has $112 million under investment in the DIMS so far, diversified into 40 countries and 8,000 companies. The offer is intended to keep costs low for investors and provide access to market premiums.

The new portfolios offer socially responsible investments, focusing on excluding equity investments in companies with more than an incidental proportion of revenue generated by the production, manufacturing or significant sales of tobacco, controversial weapons, nuclear weapons or nuclear weapon components.

Consilium chief investment officer Damon O’Brien, said: “For far too long, taking a responsible investment approach led to investors having to sacrifice elements of prudent portfolio construction. Historically, the few responsible investment funds available were typically high-cost, highly concentrated and provided minimal mandate control or consistency.

"This no longer needs to be the case. Synergy is increasingly able to access quality investments that do not unduly restrict the delivery of attractive investment outcomes and for investors interested in pursuing a responsible investment approach, we are committed to supporting that choice with Synergy’s new SRI portfolios.”

Synergy’s four SRI portfolios range from a 30% growth/70% income mix to a 98% growth/2% income mix, and include an allocation to renowned international fund manager Vanguard, sitting alongside other leading global managers, BlackRock and Dimensional Fund Advisors.

Synergy’s highly diversified investment approach means it may not always be able to satisfy the SRI objectives of all potential investors at once. But Synergy said its SRI portfolios seek to incrementally raise the bar with respect to the socially responsible investment practices it has adopted, and to clearly and consistently communicate this to investors.

The portfolios will become available to investors on April 3.

Tags: Synergy