Singapore-based multi-family office and licensed fund manager Maitri Asset Management has rolled out its Sustainable Liquid Income Fund, as reported by ESG Clarity Asia‘s sister publication, Fund Selector Asia.
The fund, which is targeted to wealthy individuals, families and institutions, has already gathered at least $50m in assets, according to a statement from the firm.
This is the second strategy that the firm manages. In November last year, Maitri launched its first strategy for accredited investors, the Sustainable Multi-Asset Absolute Return Strategy, which integrates ESG factors in its investment process to reduce investment risks.
The new fixed income strategy is a long-only fund that will invest in short duration US dollar-denominated bonds issued by corporates and sovereigns globally.
It will be managed by Ankit Khandelwal, Maitri’s chief investment officer. The fund aims to generate alpha over bank deposit rates by taking on liquid credit risk and incorporating a daily redemption feature.
While the rating of the fund’s overall portfolio will be investment grade, it has the flexibility to invest in high yield securities.
The fund will employ the firm’s two-tiered responsible investment approach, which includes a negative screen and applying a proprietary ESG-integrated investment framework.
For its negative screening, the firm excludes companies that have more than 10% of their revenue generated from six negative sectors, which are adult entertainment, alcohol, defense (such as controversial weapons, military contracting, riot control and small arms), gambling, tobacco and recreational cannabis, according to the firm’s website.
Maitri’s ESG-integrated investment framework, meanwhile, constitutes a thermal coal exclusion, performing ESG due diligence for investments in sectors and companies with high ESG-related scores, ongoing monitoring of ESG controversies and an engagement and corporate voting policy.
“We have been running the fund as a pilot over the past year, allowing us to incorporate learnings from our continued sustainable investment efforts, as well as navigating pandemic-related volatility,” Manish Tibrewal, Maitri’s CEO, said in the statement.
“With our single-family office heritage, we are committed to sustainable finance stewardship, while placing an emphasis on patient capital and long-term wealth preservation for future generations,” he added.
Maitri was founded as the Tolaram Group family office in November 2015. Twenty-five percent of its earned capital goes to the Ishk Tolaram Foundation, which supports vulnerable communities in Indonesia, Nigeria and Singapore, according to the statement.
