RIL International Share Fund tops performance survey

The Responsible Investment Leaders (RIL) International Share Fund is the top performing international multi-manager (unhedged) share fund over three months, one year and three years, according to the September 2008 Chant West Multi-Manager quarterly survey.

The Fund has been included in the survey since it was first managed as a multi-manager fund in September 2005. Despite recent market volatility, it delivered gross returns of 4.7% over three months, -13.2% over one year and 2.3% over three years to 30 September 2008*. These returns not only outperform its MSCI benchmark but also clear the median manager in the ChantWest survey by 7.5% over one year and by 3.6% over three years.

Offering access to shares listed on international share markets within a sustainable and responsible investment (SRI) framework, the Fund uses a blend of manager styles with the objective of providing competitive returns across a range of markets.

The three underlying managers in the portfolio are Boston Common Asset Management/ Global Currents Investment Management, Henderson Management and Lazard Asset Management/Innovest, which have combined experience of more than 50 years in specialist SRI investment.

The underlying investment managers appointed by AMP Capital are selected and monitored by the RIL Investment Committee and Work Group, which in addition to AMP Capital investment personnel includes representatives from Mercer Investment Consulting and Edwards Benefits Advisors, with further input from the RIL Ethics Committee which monitors the Fund’s mandated social and environmental focus.

AMP Capital Investment Specialist, Angus Dennis, said the Fund had held up well during the financial crisis.

“Through addressing environmental, social and governance factors in addition to financial factors, the Fund has favoured higher quality companies which have performed better in the market downturn,” he said.

He added that the Fund had benefited from being overweight in healthcare, underweight  in financials and underweight in energy (in particular oil), as a result of the focus on industries of the future.

AMP Capital SRI Median Study 2008 shows that the SRI industry overall delivers competitive returns, with the SRI median Australian Shares manager outperforming the S&P/ ASX 200 Index over one, two, three and five years to 30 June 2008.

*Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.

Find out more about the Responsible Investment Leaders Funds