Specialist in Asia Pacific, Japan, China, India and South East Asia and Global Emerging Market equities.
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Specialists in equity portfolios in Asia Pacific, emerging markets, global and sustainable investment strategies
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Our philosophy is very simple. We are constantly searching for high quality businesses and when we acquire them, we will work relentlessly with them to create long-term sustainable value through innovation, ESG-led and proactive asset management.
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Leader in systematic equities across market cap weighted indices, smart beta and active quantitative strategies
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This Realindex site does not constitute an offer or invitation to subscribe for any interest in the yet to be launched fund(s) and that the information presented should not be relied upon because it is incomplete and may be subject to change in future.
Realindex Investments
Realindex Investments
Realindex combines powerful data analysis with human insight to deliver investment performance.
Our investments are shaped by a distinctive approach to research, the intellectual power of an expert team, and a strong focus on ESG.
Why invest in Realindex?
Realindex has successfully developed and delivered investment solutions across a broad range of equity universes, including all-country world, developed and emerging markets, global small, and Australian large and small companies for 13+ years.
ESG research and considerations are embedded in all our investment processes, with the option to customise portfolios to meet clients’ specific responsible investment needs.
We use a sophisticated, structured investment process that uncovers market insights and identifies market mispricings, which aim to generate outperformance and manage downside risk.
We have an experienced team who are market practioners with research and portfolio management working together in the same team.
We benefit from the significant global resources of our parent company First Sentier Investors across dealing, compliance, middle office and sales and service.
How we invest in equities
Realindex Investments builds data sets, research and production systems to understand and aim to exploit inefficiencies across a range of factors: value, quality, momentum, growth and ESG, in emerging and developed markets.
Making a deal with the devil?
Analysis of performance without tobacco and other sin stocks
Companies responsible for what may be considered as unethical and immoral activities – alcohol, tobacco, gambling, adult entertainment and weapons – are known in the investment world as ‘sin stocks’. As part of our stewardship responsibilities, we exclude companies involved in controversial weapons and tobacco. We can also apply screens to exclude other ESG red flag companies depending on client requirements. But do excluding these sin stocks come at a cost to performance?
While the sin stocks have historically outperformed, a study by UBS concluded that excluding these 50 stocks from the MSCI World Index between Jan 1996-Aug 2019 only resulted in a small outperformance of 6 basis points per year due to their low market capitalisation.
Sin stocks were profitable for shareholders between 1960-1990, but many have performed poorly over the last three years, against a backdrop of increased regulations, the rise of ‘vaping’ as a smoking alternative, and investors choosing to divest or exclude the stocks for ethical reasons.
In a portfolio focused on value, momentum or size factors, we have found the performance of sin stocks could be replicated by other stocks.
References to specific securities on these pages is for the purpose of illustrating the engagement activities and should not be construed as investment advice, or a recommendation to buy or sell the same. All securities mentioned may or may not form part of the holdings of First Sentier Investors and are subject to change.
Valuing the intangible
Our in-house built research platform allows us to undertake a range of research projects that aim to continuously improve on our current investment process, as well as undertake research for clients on request.
Recently, we investigated incorporating intangibles into the book value of companies. In the 21st century, companies no longer necessarily rely upon heavy machinery and equipment to produce goods and services. As a result, investors assign value to companies for their branding and research and development efforts – invisible assets that have no physical footprint.
Our research team examined adding unrealised intangibles into book value, showing that it provides a better measure of firm footprint in a world where intangible assets are increasingly important.
References to specific securities on these pages is for the purpose of illustrating the engagement activities and should not be construed as investment advice, or a recommendation to buy or sell the same. All securities mentioned may or may not form part of the holdings of First Sentier Investors and are subject to change.
Creating custom ESG solutions
We can partner with clients to develop tailored solutions. For example, an institutional mandate client requested a portfolio with a Value tilt and specific Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) considerations. We worked with the client to develop a strategy that has multiple objectives relating to ESG including: to minimise social harm, to protect human and labour rights and the environment, and to take action on climate change.
This strategy uses an extensive array of screens both on a range of product involvements (including fossil fuels, weapons, genetically-modified organisms, nuclear power) as well as on grounds of poor ESG management or recent incidents.
We then constructed a portfolio which integrates ESG factors with quantitative financial metrics such as Value, Quality and Momentum.
References to specific securities on these pages is for the purpose of illustrating the engagement activities and should not be construed as investment advice, or a recommendation to buy or sell the same. All securities mentioned may or may not form part of the holdings of First Sentier Investors and are subject to change.
Realinsights from Realindex
Meet the Realindex team
Andrew Francis
Dr David Walsh
Dr Joanna Nash
Dr Ron Guido
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