In Brief

Fidelity adds health-related ESG fund

The active mutual fund uses both proprietary and third-party ESG ratings

Fidelity Investments has launched a health-focused ESG fund, the company announced Tuesday.

Fidelity’s new, actively managed Healthy Future Fund is its 23rd ESG investment option in its line of mutual funds and ETFs. The fund, which comes in retail and adviser share classes, invests thematically in health care, nutrition, mental health, housing and ways to reduce air pollution, the company stated.

It aims to invest at least 80% of its assets in equity securities of companies “around the world whose products, services and/or technology are believed to either extend and/or improve life expectancy, enhance health and wellness in people’s lives or mitigate negative environmental impacts affecting health and wellness.”

Those holdings include businesses with at least half of their revenues coming from disease treatment, access to health care, nutrition, fitness, wearables or clean emissions, the company stated. It also includes those that are in the MSCI World Health & Wellness Select Net MA Index.

“The pandemic has put the importance of overall health and wellness at the forefront of consumer consciousness, and we believe there are many factors that will continue to drive this global trend,” Pam Holding, head of sustainable investing, said in the company’s announcement. “With this new fund, Fidelity offers investors the opportunity to gain exposure to the long-term movement of health and wellness through an actively managed sustainable strategy.”

The fund uses Fidelity’s in-house ESG ratings as well as those from third-party providers.

Pantheon hires ESG lead

Eimear Palmer will help build out the company's existing ESG initiatives

Pantheon Group has hired its first global head of ESG, the company announced Thursday.

Eimear Palmer, who was hired as partner at Pantheon, was previously the head of responsible investment at Intermediate Capital Group. Palmer has also worked at Carlyle Group.

In the new role, Palmer will lead the firm’s ESG committee and help build out the company’s existing ESG strategy and initiatives, the announcement noted.

See the latest ESG fund launches and people moves here.

“Recognized for her expertise in responsible investment and engagement with key stakeholders, Eimear is a founder of the UK network of Initiative Climat International, an investor-led platform focused on climate action among leading global private market organizations, of which Pantheon is a signatory,” the company stated.

Palmer is based in London and will start in the position in August, reporting to investment partner Alex Scott.

PGIM launches ESG bond fund

The fund uses a negative screen and an impact ratings methodology

Prudential Financial fund company PGIM Investments on Wednesday announced that it had added an actively managed ESG bond fund to its product line.

The PGIM ESG Short Duration Multi-Sector Bond Fund is the third mutual fund offered by the company. The fund “seeks total return, investing across various fixed income securities and emphasizing issuers with stronger ESG characteristics and practices than traditional multi-sector portfolios,” the company said in an announcement. “The fund normally seeks to maintain an average portfolio duration of three years or less.”

Overseeing the fund are PGIM fixed income portfolio managers Gregory Peters, Robert Tipp, Michael Collins, Richard Piccirillo and Lindsay Rosner.

The fund uses an exclusionary screen as well as PGIM’s impact rating methodology to build a portfolio, according to the company.

T. Rowe nabs ESG exec from BlackRock

Poppy Allonby will oversee the company's ESG strategy at a high level

T. Rowe Price has added a new role of ESG enablement, hiring former a BlackRock leader who helped build the company’s sustainable product strategy for its active funds.

Joining the Baltimore-based firm is Poppy Allonby, who will work out of T. Rowe’s London office beginning 6 June, the company announced Thursday.

In the new position, Allonby will help execute the company’s ESG strategy at a high level, reporting to head of global equity Eric Veiel, and “will oversee the firm’s corporate ESG positioning, global ESG product range, regulatory engagement and go-to-market approach,” the company stated.

At BlackRock, Allonby developed and delivered the sustainable product strategy for its active investment business. She also had responsibility for product strategy, development and structuring, with investment oversight for more than $970bn in assets under management across more than 1,000 funds, the company noted.

Allonby is also on the external advisory board of MIT’s Energy Initiative.

Malk Partners hires a CEO

Founder Andrew Malk is becoming the firm's executive chairman

La Jolla, California-based ESG management adviser Malk Partners has hired a CEO, the company announced Tuesday.

Max Hong, who was previously operating partner at Crosspoint Capital Partners, is assuming responsibilities at Malk from founder Andrew Malk, who is moving to a role as executive chairman at the firm. Andrew Malk had led the firm since its establishment in 2009.

The company advises on more than $500bn in assets under management and provides ESG consulting services to alternatives managers globally.

“Hong’s appointment positions the firm to capitalize on the most powerful trends shaping global finance, while enhancing Malk Partners’ best-in-class advisory services for clients’ rapidly evolving needs in the ESG and impact space,” the company stated in its announcement.

“It also comes as responsible investing is being quickly embraced throughout private equity and private credit and as more clients are demanding the expertise and singular ESG focus that the firm has pioneered.”

Northwestern Mutual adds ESG option for wealthy clients

The new service provides 'white glove, customized' options for high-net-worth clients

Northwestern Mutual has rolled out ESG investment options specifically for high-net-worth clients, the company recently announced.

The new services are designed for investors in the company’s private client services and signature managed accounts programs.

The news about the ESG options follows the company’s addition late last year of active and passive ESG portfolios in its mass-affluent mutual fund and ETF model portfolio service, Signature Portfolios, Northwestern Mutual noted in an announcement.

The new “white glove, customized” options for high-net-worth clients are available from the company’s advisers and “feature both proprietary management by Northwestern Mutual Management Company portfolio managers as well as a blend of actively managed ESG funds and ETFs that meet the firm’s research criteria and quality standards,” the firm stated.

“Clients invested in the ESG models are differentiated through active management of their large cap holdings in the NMWMC ESG Large Cap Core Equity Portfolio … integration of ESG research in the process of selecting portfolio holdings, and asset allocation weightings,” according to the statement.

Northwestern reports being among the 10 biggest independent broker-dealers in the country by revenue. As of the end of March, its retail assets under management stood at $237bn.

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