This fund aims to invest in companies which have a sustainable competitive advantage, which the manager classifies as business franchises. Business franchises are defined to arise when companies: possess assets that are difficult to replicate (eg licenses, brands, captive client base), have an entrenched customer base which finds it difficult or inconvenient to switch to a competitor.

The core belief driving SGH ICE is that franchise companies which possess a sustainable competitive advantage will grow profits (and share prices) at a superior rate over the medium to long-term. Stock selection is undertaken through a rigorous process by the team. The SGH ICE portfolio construction approach looks to deliver a highly diversified portfolio by industry that focus on companies with more resilient earnings streams that are typically less affected by the economic cycle.

ICE Investors has been appointed under a sub-investment agreement with SGH to undertake the portfolio management of the SGH ICE Fund.

SGH ICE is a benchmark unaware strategy that has a large investible universe of stocks in Australia and New Zealand. Based on the SGH ICE criteria (the franchise concept), several sectors are excluded from the fund’s investible universe, including resources, typical listed property trusts, and basic manufacturers.

The fund contains typically between 30 – 50 stocks that are highly diversified by industry. Over time, it is expected that SGH ICE will be predominately invested in stocks outside the ASX100 companies because this is where the best medium to long-term opportunities typically arise. However, SGH ICE can also invest in some large companies (i.e. within the ASX100) that meet the investment criteria and which SGH assesses as having a strong business franchise and sound long term prospects. The fund has a maximum allocation to cash of up to 50% though it is expected to be at the lower end of this range.