| Type | Public Stock Symbol: AEF, Stock exchange(s): ASX |
|---|---|
| Industry | Finance |
| Founded | 1986 |
| Headquarters | Canberra, Australia |
| Key people | Phillip Vernon (CEO) |
| Products | managed funds, superannuation |
| Revenue | A$14,068,000 (Y.E. 30 June 2010)[1] |
| Employees | About 50 |
| Website | www.austethical.com.au |
Australian Ethical Investment Limited is an Australian owned company established in 1986 for the purpose of environmental and socially responsible investing. The company is based in Canberra and is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX).
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The company offers a number of investment trust funds and superannuation trust funds with all investments guided by an Ethical Charter. The charter seeks out investments which are environmentally friendly or encourage workers' participation in the ownership and control of their work organisations and places, while excluding investments which pollute or produce harmful products, are speculative, encourage militarism, or deemed exploitative or discriminatory.
Australian Ethical donates 10% of its company profit to Australian charitable, benevolent and conservation projects through a community grants program.
Ethical investment funds offer different degrees of socially responsible investing, sometimes differentiated within the industry as "deep green", "green" and "pale green" funds. According to Credit agency Standard & Poor's Australian Ethical Investment is arguably the only true green fund operating in Australia as of early 2007.[2]
The focus of AEI is on investing in ‘highly ethical’ companies through using positive screens for finding companies involved in the renewable energy sector, the production of ‘natural food’, recycling and public/efficient transport providers, as well as excluding companies on several grounds, including uranium mining. According to Michael O'Brien, International Portfolio Manager with Australian Ethical Investments this screens out about 90% of the Australian market and has resulted in AEI seeking out overseas investments that meet its ethical criteria.[3]
In the five years to 31 July 2010, the Australian Ethical Small Companies fund produced an average annual return of 5.60%, higher than mainstream share options at 4.21%.[4]