Alternative energy funds?

Hi all,

A mate of mine is looking for a good alternative energy fund.

He is of the opinion that after what happened in Japan & the ensuing cancellation by Governments of their nucleur programmes since then coupled with the fact oil is a finite resource that the value, and as a result of the likely "compulsory" investment into the alternative energy sector(what else is there if you take away oil & nucleur he roared at me over the weekend) that the alternative energy sector is poised to "soar".

His logic stacks up to some degree I think in that I believe investment will go into the sector but how long it will take before an investor gets a return is anyone guess I believe.

Are there any alternative energy funds anyone would recommend for him??


cheers

There are a few available and a wide range of performance track records. The longest running fund that I know of is the KBC Alternative Energy Fund, promoted widely by New Ireland since July 07. Axa Financial have one on their platform run by Jupiter called the climate change solutions fund (mgmt fee 1.45%) Aviva have one run by Blackrock, called the New Energy Fund (mgmt fee 1.5%) Zurich have a Green Resources Fund (mgmt fee 1%) All except the KBC funds have short histories, really just going back to 2009. Performance in the past 12 months has been very poor ranging from -9% to -28%. Given that they have significantly under performed general equity markets by such a large margin there could be an argument that there is value in the sector, but it will require investment from governments who are cutting back on all capital expenditure at the moment.

I can email you performance charts if you pm me. Don't know how to attach them directly to this site.

Alternatives to the Irish unit-linked fund versions of alternative energy themes are ETFs and investment companies. Both are listed on stock exchanges and bought through a stockbroker. Much lower cost, no sales fees (just a transaction fee), no holding period and no redemption charges. In fact, most of the unit-linked funds in the area are just overseas funds wrapped (more costs).

Not sure about the bullish long-term arguments for oil - shale oil and gas reserves are enormous worldwide and technological developments are already starting to free up these vast reserves. This is one of the reasons behind the significant weakness in US natural gas prices these past few years. Of course, environmental issues could halt the rapid development of these reserves so not sure I have any answers either. Speculative investment if you don't mind my saying so.

Rory Gillen

Was searching for a thread dealing with how to sell my EIIS personal investment fund with Simple.ie . It is due to mature in January 2013. Initial investment was 10,400. Need to sell now and have to find my own buyer since it is pre-maturity and will take a tax hit. Interested?