AUSTRALIA’S biggest hedge fund manager has said he will donate his £50 million fortune to a fund dedicated to the future of global health.
The investment arm of the Australian government will pay the fund, which aims to help developing countries build better vaccines and vaccines for the global pandemic, to invest in “unbiased” investments that will boost the development of vaccines and medicines.
The fund will be called the MFS Foundation and will invest up to $500 million, Mr Murray said in an interview on ABC’s Insiders program.
“We’re hoping it will give us some exposure to a bunch of big funds, some of the big ones, but also to other companies and foundations that we have invested in, and they can see that this is something that they can support and we want to see them succeed,” he said.
Mr Murray said he has donated a total of about $4.5 billion to the MFs Foundation, which is already known as MFS Funds Australia, which was set up to invest money in companies.
He said the funds aim to support companies that are investing in vaccines and medical devices to help the developing world.
The MFS Fund has already invested in companies such as Nexium, who make vaccines to treat people with diseases such as HIV and Hepatitis C.
The Australian Medical Association’s executive committee is considering whether to call on the MFB to give up its own money in the Mfs Fund, Mr Moore said.
“What I want to do is make sure that the fund can continue to do that.
And I think that’s the right thing to do,” he told Insiders.
Mr Moore said he is not going to give any more of his own money away.
“I think the idea of giving it away is silly,” he added.
“It’s going to be used to fund a fund which is actually more aligned with Australia’s interests in the world.”
The MFs Fund is an Australian institution and Australia has always been at the forefront of global research and development.
“The Mfs Foundation is also planning to invest $1 billion in a “health security fund” to support countries around the world, Mr Roy said.
The money will go to developing countries that are struggling to meet their medical and other public health needs, he said, adding the money will also be used for research and other development.”
They’re very good at developing vaccines and we’ve also had the opportunity to work with the World Health Organization, which has some very good ideas about how to invest here in Australia, and that’s why we’re so excited about this,” Mr Roy added.
Australia’s MFS funds have been hit hard by the pandemic.
In April, the fund’s director of business development, Ian Murray, said the fund had been hit by a “massive and unprecedented” spike in fund traffic and funding.”
There’s not been any way of keeping up with that.
So what we’re trying to do now is to build a foundation to try and keep up,” he was quoted as saying.”
At the moment, we’re going to try to make sure we’ve got a stable foundation.
“Mr Murray also said the MfS Fund would be working to “support and assist” the WHO.
Topics:investment-and-investment,government-and,australia
