Assets
In 1992, founder Dr. h. c. Peter Schnell provided SAGST with assets when he transferred his shares in the Software AG company to the foundation. With the proceeds of these assets, which today amount to around 1.4 billion euros, not only do we act as a healing force in the world, but we also participate responsibly with our capital investments.
According to CFO Markus Ziener, the primary goal of our asset management strategy is not to maximise profits but to generate reasonable returns and make meaningful investments. In light of this, we only make financial investments that generate worth in the truest sense of the word. Instead of focusing on speculation and derivatives, our foundation purchases shares or bonds directly or opts for direct participation in companies. As Ziener explains: “Just as we work very closely with people in our project work, we also want to do that with our investments.”
In its asset management, SAGST focuses on a well-proportioned ratio of its allocations in the three asset classes (equities, corporate investments and real estate), which it has been balancing increasingly healthily and making consistently sustainable since autumn 2021. To this end, we are considering not only returns, security and availability but also the social-ecological impact of our investments to an ever greater extent. These investments are made for the long term out of a sense of conviction and are actively initiated and managed by our “Assets and Finance” team. Ziener emphasises that “together with partners and service providers, we attend closely to each of our assets when it is acquired, while it is in our portfolio and in the event it is sold.” In conjunction with balanced and responsible capital investments, such a focus helps to limit cyclical fluctuations.
