Manager Overview

Coolabah Capital Investments (CCI) is a leading active credit alpha manager responsible for managing numerous institutional mandates, the Smarter Money Investments product suite, the Coolabah Active Composite Bond Fund (Hedge Fund) (CXA: FIXD) and the BetaShares Active Australian Hybrid ETF (ASX: HBRD). CCI seeks to generate alpha in liquid, high-grade credit rather than relying on additional duration, credit default or illiquidity risk to drive returns. The firm was established in 2011 and, as at 31 December 2023, managed over $9 billion. CCI's investment and portfolio management businesses are conducted through its related entities, with Coolabah Capital Investments (Retail) Pty Ltd acting as investment manager and Coolabah Capital Institutional Investments Pty Ltd acting as portfolio manager. CCI is 65% owned by its management team and 35% owned by Pinnacle Investment Management Group Limited, a leading Australian-based multi-affiliate investment firm, which provides strategic corporate backing as a minority shareholder.

Manager's responsible investing approach

Coolabah Capital Investments considers that environmental, social and governance factors are crucial inputs into its investment process and have potentially profound consequences for the performance of its investments. It is engaged with its target companies and relevant regulators and government stakeholders, dynamically evaluating the status of different ESG factors, and seeking to understand their future path. ESG is therefore a core part of both its quantitative and qualitative due diligence and wider investment process. Coolabah Capital Investments is cognisant of several benchmarks for assessing ESG issues and is a signatory of the UN-endorsed Principles for Responsible Investment. It actively monitors the development of such principles and their adoption by rating agencies and regulators.

Coolabah Capital Investments evaluates ESG research prepared by industry-leading external providers such as MSCI, Sustainalytics, S&P and Bloomberg when assessing a company's resilience to long-term, industry-material ESG risks. Insights provided by these providers assist Coolabah Capital Investments in identifying risks and opportunities that may not be captured by conventional financial analysis. Furthermore, Coolabah Capital Investments compiles the MSCI ESG risk rating for each of its exposures and targets a minimum portfolio MSCI ESG rating of "A".