Ascalon launches Arkx Global Clean Energy Fund
Ascalon Capital Managers today announced that it has launched a retail version of Arkx Investment Management’s clean energy fund
Download PDF6 July 2011
Ascalon Capital Managers today announced that it has launched a retail version of Arkx Investment Management’s clean energy fund.
The new fund gives investors the opportunity to gain exposure to three key investment themes:
- Rapid growth of energy consumption,
- Increasing importance of energy security, and
- Climate change-related policies and regulation.
The Arkx Global Clean Energy Fund will have exposure to listed companies that operate in the sectors of clean and renewable energy including solar, wind, hydro and geothermal energy. It will also have an interest in companies focused on energy efficiency, energy storage, electric vehicles and clean building technologies.
“With energy consumption growing quickly and governments around the world responding to climate change, pressure is building for fundamental structural, economic and social change in favour of clean energy,” said Arkx Managing Director Geoff Evison.
“Moves around the globe to a low carbon economy will fundamentally alter what goods and services are produced, how they are produced and where,” Mr Evison said.
“A number of large, profitable companies internationally are already heavily involved in the production of renewable energy and in energy efficiency technologies. These companies stand to be major beneficiaries as governments grow in their resolve to combat climate change while ensuring energy security,” he said.
“This is the only fund in Australia that enables investors to benefit from this economic step-change. These are major changes that will forever alter the way the world does business.”
Suitable for investors with a long-term focus, the Arkx Global Clean Energy Fund aims to outperform the MSCI World Index after the deduction of fees and expenses in Australian dollar terms and over a rolling five-year period.
Arkx’ wholesale-only fund has outperformed various benchmarks, including the WilderHill New Energy Global Innovation Index and the MSCI World Index, since the fund’s inception in 2008.
The fund has a portfolio of 20-30 listed companies that have proven, profitable technologies and are supported by strong balance sheets. As at June 2011, the average market capitalisation of stocks in the portfolio was US$10.03 billion.
Arkx is jointly managed by Mr Evison and Tim Buckley and is part owned by Ascalon, a 100% owned subsidiary of Westpac Banking Corp.