On 25 July 2023, NorthStar Impact Funds shared the news that UniSuper, the award-winning over $120bn super fund, has appointed NorthStar Impact as a specialist external listed equities manager.
A joint media release reads as below. The original media release can be read on UniSuper’s website.
UniSuper Invests with NorthStar Impact
UniSuper, the award-winning over $120bn super fund open to all Australians, has appointed NorthStar Impact as a specialist external listed equities manager. NorthStar focuses on investment opportunities that seek to contribute to positive social and environmental outcomes, alongside financial outcomes. The portfolio will sit within UniSuper’s Sustainable Balanced and Sustainable Growth investment options*.
NorthStar Impact invests in listed companies in Australia and New Zealand whose core business activities seek to address social and environmental challenges, with the aim of generating measurable outcomes alongside financial returns. Its investment process begins by defining issues based on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Core focus areas include affordable housing, education, health care, land and resource management, and renewable energy generation and storage.
Some examples of investments within the portfolio include:
- Genex – a developer of renewable energy generation and storage projects across Australia covering large scale batteries, hydro power, solar and wind energy
- 3P Learning – the company behind widely-used educational software products such as Mathletics and Reading Eggs
- Volpara – provides AI-powered software that enables the early detection of breast cancer for health care providers around the world.
The portfolio complements other holdings within UniSuper’s Sustainable Balanced and Sustainable Growth investment options, including UniSuper’s partnership with Uniseed announced in 2022.
The relationship represents an exclusive institutional arrangement between NorthStar and UniSuper, with a specialist mandate and scope for potential further collaboration.
“We are pleased to further grow our investments in companies seeking to create and grow solutions that will shape a better future.
While UniSuper takes into account environmental, social and governance considerations into all investment decisions fund wide, many of our members are looking for options that go even further. Our sustainable branded investment options* give them that choice, and our investment in NorthStar aligns strongly by providing exposure to innovative companies, many of which are homegrown.” – Jarrod McDonald, UniSuper, Manager of Sustainable Portfolios
Kerry Series, Founder and Chief Investment Officer of NorthStar Impact, started impact investing in 2017 with the aim of making it more accessible to all Australians:
“We want everyone to have the opportunity to invest in companies that seek to deliver real-world solutions. We see this as an opportunity to drive positive change. It’s great to partner with UniSuper.” – Kerry Series, Founder and CIO of NorthStar Impact