Tansy Harcout, The Australian Business Review
Nicola Forrest has committed $100m from her and estranged husband Andrew’s Minderoo Foundation toward a new unlisted philanthropic investment fund which has an all-women group of stock pickers.
Known as Future Generation Women, the new fund is the latest in a series of philanthropic funds first envisaged by veteran fund manager Geoff Wilson, that bring best in class investors together to provide free advice to a series of funds that in turn donate 1 per cent of the net assets to selected charities.
Newly minted solo billionaire Nicola Forrest was the one who drove Minderoo to provide the seed funding for Future Generation Women, according to Future Generation chief executive Caroline Gurney.
“She is really championing this, and she came in and met with Geoff and I and we talked about it at length,” says Ms Gurney. “This is not a donation, it needs to have a return for them to invest in the long-term.”
Ms Forrest, who is known for backing philanthropic initiatives for women, split from high-profile businessman Andrew “Twiggy” last year after 31 years of marriage. Ms Forrest was not available for comment.
Future Generation Women will start with 12 of the nation’s top female stock pickers, and 1 per cent of its net assets will be donated to female financial empowerment causes.
Ms Gurney said “women can be better investors over time,” and that this initiative provides them extra capital to prove it while supporting female finance-related causes.
“We believe that women fund managers are incredibly good investors, but we also wanted to create a pool of capital for women investors, so more women have their finger on the money, and they’re endorsed as solid, long-term investors,” she said.
As to whether creating a women-only stock picker rule for the fund could come across as patronising given there are now so many highly regarded female stock pickers in Australia, Ms Gurney points out that females account for only about 15 per cent of the industry.
“For us, it’s about getting them more of a seat at the table,” she said. “They’re already best in class, but we’re highlighting their investment expertise. But also, the other thing that is really important is we will be giving 1 per cent of our net assets to not-for-profits that are focused on economic empowerment and financial literacy for women and their children.”
Ms Forrest and Mr Forrest stepped down as co-chairs of Minderoo earlier this year after their split, but both remain on the board.
Just months before announcing their split last year, the Forrests donated about a fifth of their holdings in Fortescue – the company that put them as a family at second place on The Richest 250 List behind fellow iron ore billionaire Gina Rinehart.
That donation, worth $5bn at the time, made Minderoo one of the largest philanthropic organisations in the world.
Future Generation Women will start as a high net worth fund – with a minimum investment of $250,000, but may eventually become a listed investment trust in the same vein as the other two Future Generation funds.
Future Generation Australia and Future Generation Global have more than $1bn under management in total and have donated more than $87m to Australian non-profits since launching ten years ago.
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