The fund was put on hold in April after the product's fundamental analyst and environmental, social and governance (ESG) researcher, Nick Edgerton, resigned.AMPCI has since recruited two fundamental analysts and an ESG researcher, expanding the Sydney-based team's size to seven. Michael Anderson leads the team.
"Mans Carlsson-Sweeny, an ESG researcher, will be working alongside Ian Woods, the team's well-regarded senior ESG researcher," S&P analyst Sheela Veerappan said.
"The fundamental research team has expanded its size through the hires of Carlos Castillo, portfolio manager and analyst, and Rahul Badethalav, portfolio analyst.
"While we view the experience and capability of the ESG researchers positively, we need to gain further conviction of the fundamental analysts' capabilities. Their research analysis is less insightful than mainstream peers."
Additionally, the fund had failed to meet its investment objective in the medium and longer term, Veerappan said. "AMPCI has attributed the fund's underperformance to the effects of its quantitative model. The team is currently making enhancements to the model."
