The low-yield world has caused problems for investors everywhere, but it is a particular challenge for the former parent of SAI Global, Standards Australia, which largely relies on returns from its $260 million investment portfolio to fund its operations. 
Usually this would be of no concern to SAI, but the cloud over its former parent's operations is likely to push Standards Australia to play hard ball in negotiations with SAI over a controversial royalty agreement. And at a time when SAI is trying to jettison its underperforming assurance business in a sale process being run by investment bank Greenhill & Co, that's exactly the kind of distraction it could do without.
Standards Australia, which oversees standards for hundreds of industries and products including solar energy and electric bikes, is renegotiating its publishing and licensing contract held by SAI under a 15-year contract ending in 2018, with a five-year option to renew at market rates.
With headline inflation now at a 17-year-low in Australia and investors of all descriptions being warned to expect an extended period of lower returns, there is extra impetus for Standards Australia, which spun off SAI onto the ASX in 2003 and received an endowment of $160 million, to negotiate hard.
Morgan Stanley analyst James Bales said that based on the multiples at which global players such as Bureau Veritas and Intertek Group trade at, the assurance business owned by SAI has an implied value of $500 million to $600 million.
Macquarie Securities said the assurance business was low margin and had a "muted" organic growth outlook so it made sense for SAI to be exploring sale options. Macquarie has a 12-month price target of $3.63 on SAI, which on Wednesday drifted 5 per cent lower to $3.55.
Standards Australia, a not-for-profit organisation controlled by 75 different industry bodies, consumer organisations and state governments, relies on its investment portfolio as its major source of income.
The board of Standards Australia has an investment committee which has a stated policy for the portfolio, invested across Australia equities, overseas shares, property, infrastructure, alternative investments and cash, to both maintain the "real value" of the portfolio and to use part of the investment earnings to fund the bulk of its operating expenses which were $17.5 million in 2014-15. The 2016 annual report is yet to be audited and made publicly available.
But the organisation conceded that returns were lower for 2015-16.
A spokesman for Standards Australia said on Wednesday that "while the results are as yet unaudited, we can say that we are comfortable with the result given the state of global markets, but year-on-year portfolio growth was limited".
The 2015 annual report shows revenues from royalties for the 12 months was $4.8 million. Managed funds distributions and interest were $14.3 million in the same year.
The investment portfolio is conservatively managed and at the end of 2014-15 was spread across 14 different wholesale investment funds, plus bank term deposits.
"Standards Australia's long-term financial viability is dependent on returns from its investment portfolio, and to a lesser extent, royalties from the sale of standards publications," it states in the annual report.