Australia’s first listed investment company aimed at donating money to charities is on track to fork out $1.6 million to children’s charities by the end of fiscal 2015.
The Future Generation Investment Company, a venture by Wilson Asset Management’s Geoff Wilson, will donate nearly $620,000 to Australian charities as part of its interim profits during the four months to December.
“The first donation is expected to be paid to charities after the conclusion of the financial year to June 30, 2015, with $618 000 already allocated,” Mr Wilson said.
The LIC is expected to reveal an operating profit before tax of $1.1 million for the four months to December, a statement to be released on the Australian Securities Exchange on Monday says.
The LIC, which will provide donations mainly to children’s charities such as Act for Kids, the Australian Children’s Music Foundation and the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation, will post a net profit of $800,000.
Mr Wilson recruited high-profile investment experts including Mark East of Bennelong Funds Management, BRW Rich Lister David Paradice and LHC Capital’s Steve Aboud – the man associated with managing the Lowy family’s assets – to lend their expertise pro bono to the company.
Bennelong, Paradice Investment Company, LHC Capital, Eley Griffiths Group and Lanyon Asset Management are among the houses which have teamed up for the effort.
Since its $200 million capital raising last year, the LIC has invested in 15 funds managed by 14 managers. The funds are spread across three broad equities strategies: long equities, absolute bias and market neutral. It also holds cash investments.
The portfolio returned 1.2 per cent in December, compared with a 2 per cent rise of the All Ordinaries index. About 48 per cent of the company’s portfolio is invested in the market, 20 per cent in market neutral holdings and 15 per cent in cash.
“FGX has performed well. The portfolio has been invested with 14 of Australia’s leading fund managers with the allocation of strategies to allow the company to deliver on its investment objectives of providing a stream of fully franked dividends to shareholders, protecting their capital and delivering capital growth,” Future Generation Investment chairman Jonathan Trollip said.
