On the go: Brunel Pension Partnership has launched an equity fund with environmental, social and governance considerations that will be managed by three asset managers.
The Local Government Pension Scheme funds pool selected Ownership Capital, RBC Global Asset Management and Nordea Asset Management from a pool of 15 managers that were invited to tender, selected from 70 expressions of interest.
According to Brunel, the managers integrate ESG metrics throughout their whole investment process, and the new fund will go beyond the pool’s current portfolios in this area as the managers will “actively seek exposure to companies providing solutions to sustainability, while also targeting a financial return”, it stated.
The LGPS pool was asked by one of its partner pension schemes to create such a fund.
“The Sustainable Equities Fund gives our clients access to both the equity risk and sustainability focus they requested,” said David Cox, head of listed markets at Brunel.
“The three managers we appointed share a broad investing style and a prioritisation of sustainability, yet their approaches are also different enough to provide clients with the diversification they were looking for.”
According to David Jenkins, portfolio manager for the Sustainable Equities Fund, the new investment vehicle meets the pool’s “aspiration to go beyond traditional responsible investing and ensure that the managers are engaged with the companies and are investing in them for positive reasons, not simply focusing on negative exclusions”.
The Brunel Pension Partnership is a collaboration of the LGPS funds for Avon, Buckinghamshire, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, the Environment Agency, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Somerset and Wiltshire. Together, the pension funds have around £30bn in assets under management.
