Jun Bei Liu, Catherine Allfrey, Emma Fisher will all be part of Australia's newest fund

It’s no secret that Future Generation's fund manager lists are effectively the Tattlers of Australian finance. Today, they launched a new game-changing fund. It comes with an exciting twist - it’s female-led and the proceeds will seek to create social change for Australian women, and at the same time, change the game in Australian finance.

If the premise sounds lofty, that’s because it is an enormous undertaking – but you could argue that the whole existence of Future Generation, founded by Geoff Wilson AO, is blue-sky thinking in practice.

Big names, big investments

Future Generation Women is no small fry when it comes to the line-up. The team of fund managers, many well-known to the Livewire reader base, includes:

• Emma Fisher, Airlie Asset Management
• Catherine Allfrey, Wavestone Capital
• Katie Hudson, Yarra Capital
• Jun Bei Liu, Tribeca Investments
• Julia Weng, Paradice Investments
• Dawn Kanelleas, First Sentier
• Nikki Thomas, Magellan
• Fleur Wright, Northcape Capital
• Qiao Ma, Munro Partners
• Vihari Ross, Antipodes
• Chanel Stuart-Findlay, Plato Investment Management
• Armina Rosenberg, Minotaur Capital

Future Generation Women follows a fund-of-funds structure, with allocations to each of the participating fundies' existing portfolios. Each fund manager has foregone their usual management and performance fees. Instead, 1% of the total pool will be donated to charitable causes.

In the case of Future Generation Women, the donations will focus on economic equality and opportunities for Australian women and children.

As part of this, the 12 fund managers have committed to progressively incorporating a gender lens into their investment strategies – meaning considering factors like gender equity, family-friendly policies, and leadership as part of their decisions. There is also a pathways program providing the opportunity for young women to learn from the experts.

Caroline Gurney, Chief Executive of Future Generation, described this as the “next frontier in investing for impact”.

“By investing in fund managers, companies and non-profits that are striving for gender equity, we’re helping to shape a world where women have the opportunities and resources they need to thrive,” she said.

The seed investment has been provided by Minderoo Foundation, and the Fund will operate as a wholesale unlisted vehicle with a minimum investment of A$250,000. Investors who invest before March 2025 will be named as founding investors. 

Why a female focus?

Future Generation is no stranger to big goals of making money and doing good and is one of the biggest corporate donors in Australia. It has donated more than $87 million to Australian non-profits since launching and currently manages more than A$1 billion.

The decision to focus on women considers the gender inequality – as well as the enormous cost this has to society from both a social and financial perspective.

“Every year, gender inequality continues to cost Australia A$128 billion. To truly shift the dial and overcome the outdated norms that hold our entire country back, we need change-makers that are ready to speak up, act and embrace collaboration,” said Nicola Forrest AO, Founder of Minderoo Foundation.

All of the fund managers are proven in their investment styles, and as Future Generation notes, the decision to set up the fund in this way follows research about the long-term success of female portfolio managers. 

The finding was that investment strategies led by women tend to be more diversified, long-term and risk-conscious meaning better long-term performance (on average by 1.8% annually). You can read more here.

Future Generation Women aims to offer returns above the market, but will also aim to act as a safe haven. That is, the fund is highly diversified and is not designed with a high-risk approach.

Want more information?

You can read more about Future Generation Women here.

If you want to know more about the strategies within the fund, you can click on any of the fund managers names earlier in the article to read insights from them. 

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