Some members are excited for retirement, while others approach it with a “real sense of shame and fear”. Funds are going to have to figure out how to cater to both groups or risk failing them all.
If there’s one lesson for investors from the past five years, it’s that chopping and changing their strategy – even in the face of massive market turmoil – doesn’t always pay.
… as TGM brings SRI to big-picture macro world
Tactical Global Management (TGM) has recently celebrated its 20-year anniversary, marking a milestone in Australian-born global macro funds management. Founder, Peter Higgs, has also recentlly been diverisfying his brief into the world of ESG-orientated impact investing.
Launched in 1997, TGM commenced operations in Brisbane as a specialised tactical asset allocation management firm. It has subsequently expanded its tailored solutions to include rebalancing overlays, currency overlays and enhanced return global macro strategies.
Today, TGM manages over A$30 billion in funds under overlay management for institutional investors and maintains a strong research-driven development approach.
London-based Higgs said last month on a visit to Australia: “Our first client, a superannuation fund based in Sydney, remains a valued client today. We are very proud of what everyone at TGM, both past and present, has achieved in helping our clients meet their financial goals.
“In such a competitive industry, the ongoing success of independent and boutique managers such as TGM, provides important innovative, tailored and cost effective solution choices for investors.
“More recently, TGM has been supporting and bringing to the Australian market socially responsible impact investment opportunities that offer good investment returns as well as making an environmental and humanitarian contribution.”
Consistent with the ESG focus, TGM has appointed Tracy Adams as a non-executive director to its board. She is the chief executive of Yourtown, a national charitable organisation which employs over 600 staff and has an annual turnover of close to $100 million.
Notwithstanding his London base for many of the past 20 years, TGM’S headquarters remains in Brisbane, where chief execuitve Neil Fletcher and research and operations staff reside.
Higgs said that he had been getting more engaged with ESG over the past few years and had been brining various opportunities to Australian investors through TGM. The three major opportunities offered to date are:
. A fund supporting Interpeace, based in Geneva, which looks to facilitate stability and peace in various troubled countries. Fund managers working with the ogranisation donate their fees back.
. Impact investing in Africa, whereby the investor gets a reasonable return and any surplus goes back to the charities involved. There is a pipeline of abouyt 40 projects worth about US$1 billion. It is non-denominational.
. A renewable energy project which is manufacturing new-age batteries to store heat for conversion to thermal energy. Its applications, including at the household level, are numerous, Higgs says.
Meanwhile, at the firm’s core operation, TGM has been working on an R&D project to do with its currency overlay capability, which looks to use the short-term benefits of purchasing power parity – generally considered a long-term effect on currencies. “The irony is we are using a long-term model that we can use for short-term conditions,” Higgs says.
TGM will look to “refresh” its active alpha offering once the new research and development is completed.
