Investment philosophy

A number of investment beliefs drive the Trust's asset allocation in the deliberate absence of any pre-determined strategic asset allocation, excepting very broad asset ranges:

1) Sufficient liquidity must be maintained to avoid the forced sale of assets at distressed prices. However, real assets offer the best long-term growth prospects and provide protection against inflationary pressures.

2) In order to maximise investment returns from global economic activity, the portfolio should be very broadly diversified with no innate geographical bias.

3) The Trust seeks to use the advantages of its long-term investment horizon, its ability to tolerate high levels of short-term volatility, its AAA balance sheet and its proactive governance structure in its investment portfolio.

4) The best returns will be driven by combining aligned partnership with the strongest external managers and building in-house resource to own selected assets directly.

5) The Trust is generally flexible as to the nature of the vehicles in which it invests, whether public companies or private partnerships.