Launch stream

This is a rolling stream of all the latest responsible investment products coming to the European market and news on rebranded strategies to incorporate a sustainable focus

AXA IM launches carbon transition bond fund

Short duration fund seeded with £127m by Aon

AXA Investment Managers has launched a global bond fund aimed at decarbonisation, with investment consulting firm Aon providing seed capital of £127m.

The fund, dubbed the AXA ACT Carbon Transition Global Short Duration Bond fund, will be led by Nicolas Trindade, who currently manages near £2bn for AXA IM in global and sterling liquid fixed income funds. The actively-managed fund looks for short-dated fixed income investments, mostly in investment-grade bonds.

“With global yield curves still inverted, we believe this is a great opportunity to launch a fund able to select the most compelling net-zero opportunities in an asset class offering both high yields and the potential for an attractive total return,” Trindade said.

See also: – EU sets 90% decarbonisation reduction target by 2040

“This fund will continue to focus on providing investors with strong downside mitigation and ‘natural’ portfolio liquidity, while ensuring that the names we invest in are committed to the net zero transition.”

Trindade’s AXA Sterling Credit Short Duration Bond fund, which he has managed since 2012, is ranked ninth in its sector over five years of performance, and second over three years, according to FE Fundinfo. In the past five years, it has returned 7.76% compared to a sector average of 2.64%.

Philippa Allen, portfolio manager at Aon, said: “AXA IM is a skilled short-dated credit manager and are pleased to have worked with them and seeded this carbon transition fund. The allocation to this strategy within several of our solutions continues Aon’s commitment to aligning its UK fiduciary portfolios to net zero.”

See also: – Low-carbon energy transition investment reaches record levels

Vivek Roy, senior consultant relations manager at AXA IM, added: “We are delighted to have worked in partnership with Aon to create the AXA ACT Carbon Transition Global Short Duration Bond fund. As a global leader in responsible investing, AXA IM is committed to accelerating the transition to a net zero world.

“As such, working with Aon to launch a carbon transition version of our highly successful global short-duration bond strategy has been a natural extension of our capabilities and solution-building approach to work with investment consultants and all asset owners.”

This article first appeared on ESG Clarity’s sister title Portfolio Adviser.

State Street launches ESG emerging market bond fund

The fund will begin with an initial investment of £39.6m

State Street Global Advisors has launched the Article 8 State Street Emerging Markets ESG Hard Currency Government Bond Index fund, which invests in emerging market government bonds.

The fund, which deals in USD-denominated bonds, began with an initial investment of $50m (£39.6m) and follows the J.P. Morgan ESG EMBI Global Diversified Index, which puts emphasis on issuers ranking higher on ESG criteria and removes or gives less emphasis to those ranking lower.

See also: – Pollination appoints State Street director as senior adviser

State Street manages over $40bn in assets across its emerging market debt business as of the end of December.

Jennifer Taylor, head of emerging market debt, said: “We have seen continued growth in our EM debt business supported by our sophisticated investment process, resulting in consistent and reliable results delivered by our dedicated investment and trading teams.

“With the launch of this fund we aim to meet an increasing demand for Article 8 products in this growing market.”

As of the end of 2023, State Street holds $4.13trn assets under management.

This article first appeared on ESG Clarity’s sister title Portfolio Adviser.

Schroders launches energy transition infrastructure LTAF

Deploying capital across wind and solar assets

Schroders Greencoat, the renewables and energy transition infrastructure manager of Schroders Capital, has launched a long-term asset fund (LTAF) dedicated to renewable energy and energy transition infrastructure.

The Schroders Greencoat Global Renewables+ LTAF is designed to allow UK pension savers to invest in this asset class while benefitting from “stable, diversifying and inflation-linked investment returns”. It will be managed by Schroders Greencoat alongside its Luxembourg-domiciled sister fund, the Schroders Capital Semi-Liquid Energy Transition fund, launched in January.

The fund will target infrastructure supporting the energy transition across the UK, US and Europe, providing access to long-term investments in private markets. It will deploy capital across wind and solar assets, as well as a range of energy transition assets including hydrogen, heating and storage.

Duncan Hale, portfolio manager at Schroders Greencoat, said: “We are pleased to be introducing this ground breaking LTAF, which will offer investors a powerful combination of strong returns potential with a unique risk profile, while directing essential capital towards decarbonising and electrifying our energy sources. 

“Alongside wind and solar, a dedicated portion of this portfolio also taps into newer technologies associated with energy-transition-related infrastructure, like hydrogen and district heating, which have the potential to generate superior returns across a longer period.”

According to Schroders, LTAFs are particularly suitable for the UK defined contribution and UK charities markets, providing savers with access to a previously untapped opportunity, as well as through defined benefit pension schemes. 

Triodos launches child wellbeing and development fund

Providing a unique investment opportunity to support a thriving future for children


Triodos Bank UK has introduced the Triodos Future Generations fund, a thematic vehicle aimed at improving the wellbeing and development of children worldwide.

The fund is managed by Triodos Investment Management (Triodos IM) and has been open to European and UK institutional investors since March 2022, and currently has assets under management of €38m (£33m). This is the first time UK retail investors will have access to the fund.

Triodos IM donates the equivalent of 0.1% of the fund’s net asset value (NAV) per year to support UNICEF programmes. This will support programmes such as the Building bricks for the future project that educates children about waste management, and builds on UNICEF’s Tool for Investors on Integrating Children’s Rights into ESG Assessment.

The fund will be added to Triodos Bank UK’s existing portfolio of impact investment funds – the Triodos Global Equities Impact, Triodos Pioneer Impact and Triodos Sterling Bond funds. They are all classified as Article 9 products by the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR).

Portfolio companies include US education services provider Stride, OrthoPediatrics, which produces orthopaedic devices for children, and Sobi, a Swedish company delivering treatments for rare diseases.

Fund manager of the Triodos Future Generations fund, Sjoerd Rozing, said: “An increasing number of companies are no longer just looking at shareholder value, but at the interests of all stakeholders. Future generations belong on that list of stakeholders, and this is why the fund has been set up to support that long-term vision.”

Executive director at UNICEF Sandra Visscher, added: “While children account for nearly one third of the world’s population, investors’ human rights policies seldom reflect the special considerations businesses need to make to respect children’s rights.

“This collaboration helps to put children’s rights more clearly on the investor agenda and encourage integration of children’s rights into ESG decision-making processes across the investor world.”

Calamos Antetokounmpo US Sustainable Equities fund made available in Europe

Incorporates the One Planet Prosperity framework as an investment lens

Calamos Investment has launched the Calamos Antetokounmpo US Sustainable Equities fund for the European market.

The firm said the fund is aimed at European investors seeking a US equity allocation while looking to participate in low-risk, long-term opportunities that deliver positive societal impact.

With a sister fund initially launched in February 2023 in the US to invest on a global level, the sustainability focused UCITS will focus on US companies and is structured as a joint venture between Calamos and NBA basketball player Giannis Antetokounmpo, both of whom are 50% co-owners. The fund follows ESG investment principles using the S&P Global Index as a benchmark.

The fund is managed by Anthony Tursich, James Madden and Beth Williamson, who have a combined 77 years of experience within the sustainable investments industry. They have developed an integrated sustainable process to evaluate and select what they deem as the highest-quality growth opportunities across market capitalisations. Using this process, ESG risk is evaluated across six categories: product contribution, life cycle innovation, operational efficiency, inclusive finance, ensuring health, and basic services.

As part of that process, the team incorporates the One Planet Prosperity framework, developed by Global Footprint, as a lens to better understand investment factors. The framework tracks progress on sustainable development using two metrics: the state of people’s prosperity and well-being, and the extent to which human demand fits without the planet’s resource budget.

“Over two decades ago, our team developed a proprietary research approach to identify companies capable of navigating and improving the landscape of human lives and environmental constraints,” said Williamson.

“One Planet Prosperity, a framework that describes the relationship between society’s desire to advance and the ecological limits of the planet, inspired us to develop our six criteria used to evaluate investment opportunities that we believe have greater growth potential than their peers.”

Jupiter launches range of systematic equity funds

Funds classified as Article 8

Jupiter Asset Management has launched five Article 8 funds to be managed by its systematic equities team.

The range will include the Systematic Disruptive Technology fund, the Systematic Consumer Trends fund, the Systematic Healthcare Innovation fund, the Systematic Demographic Opportunities fund and the Systematic Physical World fund.

Amadeo Alentorn (pictured), lead of the investment team for the funds, has been with the investment team since 2005, which was first Old Mutual Asset Managers before becoming Merian Global Investors and being taken over by Jupiter in 2020.

“There have been strong inflows into thematic investing in the last decade and asset managers have sought to differentiate themselves by increasingly narrow specialisation, which has led to more volatile returns,” Alentorn said.

See also: TwentyFour upgrades fund to SFDR Article 9

“We do not differentiate our thematic funds through over-specialisation of theme, but through our unique, active and systematic investment process. While we are fund managers, we are also computer programmers and have developed over many years our own sophisticated software to swiftly and continuously analyse large amounts of data on a broad universe of stocks. This increases diversification and can help to stabilise returns.”

Kiran Nandra, head of equities at Jupiter Asset Management, added: “Launching a range of thematic equities funds is a strategic priority for the firm and the investment themes we have chosen are at the cutting edge of structural change on a global scale.

See also: Where will ESG product demand be in 2024?

“The strategies also have a flexible investment style, which means they can balance exposure to value and growth in accordance with prevailing market conditions. They will include cyclical and defensive components and seek active alpha opportunities over the whole economic cycle.”

In October 2023, Jupiter saw £1bn net outflow for Q3 wrapping up the first year of Matthew Beesley as CEO. Fund manager Ben Whitmore announced he would depart Jupiter this January, creating his own boutique and bringing along Jupiter’s Dermot Murphy and Claudia Ripley.

This article first appeared on ESG Clarity’s sister title Portfolio Adviser.

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