Overview

The below has been taken directly from page 2 of the Additional Informatio Guide under 'How we invest your money': Sustainable approach to investing Ausbil’s sustainable approach to investing allows the Ausbil Active Sustainable Equity Fund to invest in companies that have a relatively good sustainability profile, as well as the removal of companies subject to long-term earnings sustainability risk, whilst actively engaging with companies on sustainability issues and the wider industry that they operate in. Please note that all references to ‘the Fund’ in this ‘Sustainable approach to investing’ section are to the Ausbil Active Sustainable Equity Fund. The Fund’s investments are regularly reviewed to determine whether they continue to form part of the Fund’s investible universe. If Ausbil becomes aware that the Fund is invested in a company that no longer forms part of the Fund’s investible universe, the investment will be sold in a reasonable period of time. Earnings sustainability risk refinement In constructing a portfolio of companies that have relatively good sustainable profiles, Ausbil refines the universe of companies that the Fund can invest in by removing companies subject to longterm earnings sustainability risk (including companies with material exposure to ‘controversial activities’ & companies not meeting minimum hurdles in relation to labour standards, environmental, social and ethical considerations ie, ESG) and ranks companies based on research conducted by Ausbil’s equity analysts and Ausbil’s dedicated ESG team. Ausbil’s dedicated ESG team researches on a proprietary basis, assesses and scores a company based on the industry in which a company operates in (ie what a company does) and a company’s ESG factors (ie how a company manages these factors). The combination being a sustainability score, which indicates a company’s sustainability profile. The universe is refined to remove companies subject to long-term earnings sustainability risk including companies with material direct exposure or a significant indirect exposure to: • the production or distribution of alcohol, gambling, pornography; • the distribution of tobacco; • the production or distribution of weapons & armaments; • the mining of uranium; and • the exploration, mining and/or distribution of fossil fuels, such as oil, gas, oil sands and coal. Material direct exposure is defined as 10% or more of earnings from one or a combination of the above controversial activities. Furthermore, the universe is refined to remove companies with a direct exposure (0% of earnings) to: • the production of tobacco and tobacco-based products; and • the production of controversial weapon & armaments. In addition, companies that do not meet minimum score(s) from Ausbil’s ESG team, are also filtered and removed from the investable universe. A company’s sustainability score is subsequently combined equally with the equity analyst’s conviction score to allow Ausbil to rank each company in the remaining investible universe. At least half of the Fund’s portfolio must be constructed from the top third ranked companies. Active engagement Ausbil believes that engagement with companies contributes to better informed investment decisions, can reduce the risk of capital destruction and can potentially expand the companies that the Fund may invest in. Ausbil actively engages with companies on sustainability issues and has an active voting policy for the Fund. The active engagement takes the form of a direct and individual dialogue between Ausbil and companies (eg the board, management, sustainable/ESG department etc) and stakeholders (eg industry bodies) through meetings, company visits, written exchanges etc. The aim is to raise the awareness of companies and to receive additional information from companies on specific topics, to encourage them to adopt industry best practice and adopt transparency on ESG issues. In addition to company and industry engagement, Ausbil actively engages at an environmental, social and/or governance policy level, for example submissions to Australian Government or industry body led policy discussions/enquiries. Ausbil also actively participates in relevant collaborative engagements with other investors, eg the Principles for Responsible Investment.

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