Plato repackages global income fund as active ETF

Yasmine Raso

Senior Journalist

19 May 2026

Plato Investment Management has expanded investor access to its flagship Global Shares Income strategy via the reformatting of its unlisted fund into an active exchange traded fund (ETF) now available on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).

Joining the fund manager’s existing line-up of investment products listed on the ASX, including Plato Income Maximiser Limited (PL8) and the Plato Global Alpha Fund Complex ETF (PGA1), the Plato Global Shares Income Fund – Active ETF (PGI2) will take listed funds under management (FUM) to over $2 billion.

Leveraging the portfolio capabilities and “active dividend rotation strategy” of the underlying fund, the ETF will also offer a globally diversified portfolio of developed-market equities seeking monthly income distributions. Since inception in March 2016, the strategy has generated net returns of 5.7 per cent p.a. after fees, outperforming the MSCI World ex Australian Index by 4.1 per cent.

“Australian investors are often heavily concentrated in domestic dividend payers like the big banks and miners. That’s a lot of single-economy, single-currency risk for a portfolio that’s supposed to fund someone’s retirement,” Plato Global Shares Income Fund Lead Portfolio Manager, Daniel Pennell, said.

“PGI2 gives investors income exposure to sectors the ASX doesn’t offer at scale, including global healthcare, technology, and consumer staples, without giving up yield. Importantly, this strategy delivers income for clients purely from the cash dividends paid out by portfolio holdings and is not reliant on derivatives trading or capital gains realisation for income generation.”

A statement from Plato confirmed it had launched the fund in ETF form to meet client demand for “income diversification and convenient listed access to Plato’s global income strategy”.

“We have always advocated for highly diversified income generating portfolios and PGI2 trading on the ASX is now a great solution not only for diversifying income sources, but also for investors focussed on global equities who want the additional benefit of regular income,” Plato Founder and Managing Director, Dr Don Hamson, said.

“Since its inception over 10 years ago, the Plato Global Shares Income Fund has delivered great long-term outcomes for clients as a stand-alone solution, or as an allocation blended with our flagship Australian equity income strategy.

“It utilises the same investment process – including our red flags risk management system – and the same dividend rotation strategy as our Australian income Fund, just within a broader universe of stocks.”