Māori-values Australasian equities fund, Tahito, is starting to ping on wholesale investor radars after clocking up a three-year performance record, according to Paul Glass, Investor Services Group (ISG) group chair.
Glass said the almost $20 million Tahito fund is garnering interest from community trusts, iwi and other charities for its unique take on sustainability issues.
“But it takes a long time to build up a track record,” he said, with Tahito only now getting a look-in with consultants and other gatekeepers.
Earlier this year the fund also joined the distribution list of Devon, which is a sister company of Tahito in the ISG group.
Temuera Hall launched Tahito as a wholesale strategy in 2019 before opening a retail portfolio investment entity version under the aegis of Clarity Funds in 2021.
ISG also includes Clarity, JMI Wealth and Select Wealth under its wing.
The Tahito fund is also a “world-first” investment vehicle built around indigenous values, Glass said, which earned Hall a speaking spot at the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Asset Management Conference in Canada earlier in March.
AFN, which represents the interests of Canadian ‘First Nations’, hosted its second asset management event in Ottawa with infrastructure funding a key focus, Hall said.
He said Māori and the First Nations people of Canada “share similarities in historical prejudices and current challenges”.
“There is still a lot to learn from each other and we look forward to future collaboration,” Hall said in the release.
As well as usual financial constraints, Tahito applies its bespoke qualitative portfolio overlays based on Māori environmental and community values.
“In doing so, we acknowledge that efforts in many areas, including responsible investing, biodiversity, climate change, community enrichment, equity and diversity are all important in transforming our behaviours from net-worth to net-wellbeing,” the release says.
According to the Tahito December fund update, the portfolio held Meridian Energy, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Spark as its top three stocks. For the three years until the end of February this year, the Tahito strategy returned an annualised 6.6 per cent after fees compared to the benchmark 6.9 per cent.
Last month June McCabe also replaced Angela Busby as Tahito chair.