Australian Defensive Income

This strategy aims to deliver stable long-term returns above the RBA cash rate, lowly correlated to growth assets, by actively investing in a combination of cash, cash-like instruments and market neutral equities.

INVESTMENT UNIVERSE

Short term cash instruments and 1000+ Australian stocks (includes ex-index stocks to maximise the opportunity set).

RETURN FORECAST

Daily analysis at stock-specific, peer group, and macro level results in objective risk and return forecast

PORTFOLIO CONSTRUCTION & TRADING

Forecasts enter proprietary portfolio optimisation system, weighing expected return against risk, liquidity and T-costs

Investment philosophy

Financial assets are often mispriced due to behavioural errors, such as incorrectly processing information or acting on incomplete information.

Top-performing companies display many qualities. Their success is multi-faceted and cannot be attributed to any single factor.

Market inefficiencies and attractive opportunities are best captured using systematic processes.

Curated application of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technology can help extract pertinent information from large, complex datasets.

Investment processes must be dynamic and adapt to changes in investor behaviour and the investment environment.

Acadian’s edge comes from embracing innovative ideas and continuously investing in people, technology, and data.

Our Edge S Curve Building

Why defensive income?

  • Cash-based strategies aim to produce stable, consistent returns above the cash rate.
  • Defensive income strategies can provide a differentiated source of return, downside capital protection, and diversification benefits.
  • For investors who want to limit their equity exposure, defensive income can provide returns lowly correlated to equities and other traditional asset classes.
  • Acadian’s strategy generates franking credits on selected long-only equity holdings while maintaining a 0% net equity exposure, and may provide taxation advantages.
  • Limited exposure to equity and bond market risk, and credit and duration risk.

As of March 2025

APIR Code FSF0973AU
 Inception Date 19 December 2008
 Management Cost 0.46%
 Buy / Sell spread 0.1 / 0.1%
 Product Size  $115 million
 Benchmark RBA Cash Rate
Colonial First State Investments Limited (“CFS”) is the responsible entity for this fund, ABN 98 002 348 352, AFS Licence 232468. You can find the target market determinations (TMD) for this fund at www.cfs.com.au/tmd, which include a description of who a financial product might suit. You should also read the relevant Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) and Financial Services Guide (FSG) carefully, assess whether the information is appropriate for you, and consider talking to a financial adviser before making an investment decision. You can get the PDS and FSG at www.cfs.com.au or by calling CFS on 13 13 36. All Fund (NAV) returns are calculated on an annualised basis using exit price to exit price with distributions reinvested, net of management costs, transaction costs. All return calculations exclude any individual taxes payable by the investor and all other fees and rebates disclosed in the relevant product disclosure statements available on our website or by calling us. The ‘distribution’ component is the amount paid by the way of distribution, which may include net realised capital gains. Portfolio holdings are subject to change and should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell individual securities. Reference to the benchmark is for comparative purposes only and is not intended to indicate that the Fund will contain the same investments as the benchmark. Investors have the opportunity for losses as well as profits. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Index Source: Copyright © 2025, Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLC. All rights reserved. Index Source: RBA Cash Rate.

March 2025

Column Fund (Gross)  Fund (NAV)  Benchmark  Value-Added vs. Benchmark
One Month Return 0.3 0.2 0.3 -0.1
Three Month Return -0.9 -1.1 1.0 -2.1
Year-to-Date Return -0.9 -1.1 1.0 -2.1
One Year Annualized Return 10.3 9.6 4.3 5.3
Three Year Annualized Return 7.5 6.8 3.5 3.3
Five Year Annualized Return 4.9 4.3 2.1 2.1
Ten Year Annualized Return 3.5 2.8 1.8 1.0
Since Inception Annualized Return 4.3 3.6 2.6 0.9
Colonial First State Investments Limited (“CFS”) is the responsible entity for this fund, ABN 98 002 348 352, AFS Licence 232468. You can find the target market determinations (TMD) for this fund at www.cfs.com.au/tmd, which include a description of who a financial product might suit. You should also read the relevant Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) and Financial Services Guide (FSG) carefully, assess whether the information is appropriate for you, and consider talking to a financial adviser before making an investment decision. You can get the PDS and FSG at www.cfs.com.au or by calling CFS on 13 13 36. All Fund (NAV) returns are calculated on an annualised basis using exit price to exit price with distributions reinvested, net of management costs, transaction costs. All return calculations exclude any individual taxes payable by the investor and all other fees and rebates disclosed in the relevant product disclosure statements available on our website or by calling us. The ‘distribution’ component is the amount paid by the way of distribution, which may include net realised capital gains. Portfolio holdings are subject to change and should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell individual securities. Reference to the benchmark is for comparative purposes only and is not intended to indicate that the Fund will contain the same investments as the benchmark. Investors have the opportunity for losses as well as profits. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Index Source: Copyright © 2025, Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLC. All rights reserved. Index Source: RBA Cash Rate.

Top Ten Holdings

As of March 2025

Column % of Portfolio
A2 MILK CO LTD 1.0
QANTAS AIRWAYS LTD 1.0
UNIBAIL-RODAMCO-WESTFIELD 1.0
CHARTER HALL RETAIL REIT 1.0
QUBE HOLDINGS LTD 1.0
JB HI-FI LTD 1.0
COLES GROUP LTD 1.0
HARVEY NORMAN HOLDINGS LTD 1.0
LOTTERY CORP LTD 1.0
GPT GROUP 1.0
NUMBER OF SECURITIES 303
% OF PORTFOLIO FOR TOP 10 CURRENT HOLDINGS 10.0
% OF NON-BENCHMARK PORTFOLIO HOLDINGS 12.2

To view a full list of quarterly holdings in the Fund, visit Colonial First State.

Colonial First State Investments Limited (“CFS”) is the responsible entity for this fund, ABN 98 002 348 352, AFS Licence 232468. You can find the target market determinations (TMD) for this fund at www.cfs.com.au/tmd, which include a description of who a financial product might suit. You should also read the relevant Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) and Financial Services Guide (FSG) carefully, assess whether the information is appropriate for you, and consider talking to a financial adviser before making an investment decision. You can get the PDS and FSG at www.cfs.com.au or by calling CFS on 13 13 36. All Fund (NAV) returns are calculated on an annualised basis using exit price to exit price with distributions reinvested, net of management costs, transaction costs. All return calculations exclude any individual taxes payable by the investor and all other fees and rebates disclosed in the relevant product disclosure statements available on our website or by calling us. The ‘distribution’ component is the amount paid by the way of distribution, which may include net realised capital gains. Portfolio holdings are subject to change and should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell individual securities. Reference to the benchmark is for comparative purposes only and is not intended to indicate that the Fund will contain the same investments as the benchmark. Investors have the opportunity for losses as well as profits. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Index Source: Copyright © 2025, Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLC. All rights reserved. Index Source: RBA Cash Rate.

Current Positioning - Sector

Colonial First State Investments Limited (“CFS”) is the responsible entity for this fund, ABN 98 002 348 352, AFS Licence 232468. You can find the target market determinations (TMD) for this fund at www.cfs.com.au/tmd, which include a description of who a financial product might suit. You should also read the relevant Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) and Financial Services Guide (FSG) carefully, assess whether the information is appropriate for you, and consider talking to a financial adviser before making an investment decision. You can get the PDS and FSG at www.cfs.com.au or by calling CFS on 13 13 36. All Fund (NAV) returns are calculated on an annualised basis using exit price to exit price with distributions reinvested, net of management costs, transaction costs. All return calculations exclude any individual taxes payable by the investor and all other fees and rebates disclosed in the relevant product disclosure statements available on our website or by calling us. The ‘distribution’ component is the amount paid by the way of distribution, which may include net realised capital gains. Portfolio holdings are subject to change and should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell individual securities. Reference to the benchmark is for comparative purposes only and is not intended to indicate that the Fund will contain the same investments as the benchmark. Investors have the opportunity for losses as well as profits. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Index Source: Copyright © 2025, Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLC. All rights reserved. Index Source: RBA Cash Rate.

Platform Availability

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Fund Ratings & Awards

Lonsec Research Recommended - Acadian Asset Management1  2
1The rating published on 10/2024 for (FSF0973AU) is issued by Lonsec Research Pty Ltd ABN 11 151 658 561 AFSL 421 445 (Lonsec Research). Ratings are general advice only and have been prepared without taking account of investors’ objectives, financial situation or needs. Consider your personal circumstances, read the product disclosure statement and seek independent financial advice before investing. The rating is not a recommendation to purchase, sell or hold any product. Past performance information is not indicative of future performance. Ratings are subject to change without notice and Lonsec Research assumes no obligation to update. Lonsec Research uses objective criteria and receives a fee from the Fund Manager. Visit lonsec.com.au for ratings information and to access the full report. © 2025 Lonsec. All rights reserved.

 

2The Zenith Investment Partners (ABN 27 103 132 672, AFS Licence 226872) (“Zenith”) rating (assigned FSF0973AU, 21 Feb 2024) referred to in this piece is limited to “General Advice” (s766B Corporations Act 2001) for Wholesale clients only. This advice has been prepared without taking into account the objectives, financial situation or needs of any individual, including target markets of financial products, where applicable, and is subject to change at any time without prior notice. It is not a specific recommendation to purchase, sell or hold the relevant product(s). Investors should seek independent financial advice before making an investment decision and should consider the appropriateness of this advice in light of their own objectives, financial situation and needs. Investors should obtain a copy of, and consider the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) and Target Market Determination (TMD) document or other offer document before making any decision and refer to the full Zenith Product Assessment available on the Zenith website. Past performance is not an indication of future performance. Zenith usually charges the product issuer, fund manager or related party to conduct Product Assessments. Full details regarding Zenith’s methodology, ratings definitions and regulatory compliance are available on our Product Assessments and at Fund Research Regulatory Guidelines.

Acadian Asset Management (Australia) Limited (“Acadian Australia”) ABN 41 114 200 127 is the holder of Australian financial services license ("AFSL") number 291872. It is also registered as an investment adviser with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). Under the terms of its AFSL, Acadian Australia is limited to providing the financial services under its license to wholesale clients only.
Acadian Australia is a wholly owned subsidiary of Acadian Asset Management LLC (“Acadian”), a U.S. registered investment adviser regulated by the U.S. SEC. Acadian is exempt from the requirement to hold an AFSL under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) ("Corporations Act"). Acadian is regulated by the SEC under United States of America laws, which differ from Australian laws. This website is intended only to provide a summary of the subject matter covered. It does not purport to be comprehensive or to provide legal, taxation or other advice on the subject matter. No reader should act on the basis of any matter contained in this website without first obtaining specific professional advice.
The information on this web page is provided to you because Acadian Australia reasonably believes that you are a "wholesale client" within the meaning of that term under the Corporations Act and not any other class of persons. This information is not an advertisement and is not intended to induce retail clients to invest in any product. Retail clients who are interested in products referenced on this website should contact their financial adviser.
In Australia ‘Colonial’, ‘Colonial First State’, and ‘CFS’ are trademarks of Colonial Holding Company Limited and all of these trademarks are used on this website with consent.