First State expands responsible investment team

First State Investments has appointed two responsible investment specialists to its London and Sydney offices.

Will Oulton joins from Mercer Investments as global head of responsible investment in First State’s London office. He is currently vice president of the European Sustainable Investment Forum and a director of the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Forum.

Pablo Berrutti joins from Sydney-based Perpetual, a sustainable investment specialist. He will remain in Sydney in a newly created role as First State’s head of responsible investment Asia Pacific. Mr Berrutti is chair of the Investor Group on Climate Change Research Working Group, and a director of the Responsible Investment Association of Australasia.

First State chief executive officer Mark Lazberger said: “We have made significant progress [with sustainable investment] in recent years, and are currently placed in the top quartile among global investment managers in five of the six United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment.”

First State’s Asia Pacific Sustainability and Global Emerging Markets Sustainability funds are both managed by David Gait but were soft closed at the beginning of this year. Both funds rank in the Top 10 in their respective IMA sectors over one and three years to June 22, while the Asia Pacific portfolio, which has a longer track record, is also in the Top 10 over five years.