Specialist investment management business Kames Capital has unveiled a new Dublin-domiciled fund investing in sustainable equities globally.
The Kames Global Sustainable Equity Fund will typically hold between 35 and 45 stocks which meet the standards of the investment firm’s sustainability research process and successful fundamental investment process.
Kames currently manages £2.3bn in specialist ethical funds, adopts a proprietary sustainability screen that blends environmental, social and governance considerations with negative screens that filters out propositions deemed contrary to the principles of sustainable investing, such as tobacco.
The firm will consider companies that have taken considerable steps to improve their sustainability credentials as well as those that are deemed leaders within the high conviction bracket of the investment arena.
It will be managed by Craig Bonthron and Neil Goddin, supported by Ryan Smith, head of governance and ethical research at the fund house.
The fund will aim to outperform the MSCI All Country World Index Total Return index by 3 per cent over a rolling 36-month period.
The investment product is due to be passported into Kames’s key European markets, including Austria, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK, subject to regulatory approval.
Adviser view
Robert Forbes, chartered financial planner at London based Stadden Forbes Wealth Management, said: “I had two clients, both asking to be invested sustainably, but in fact, they wanted two different things. One was all right with having fossil fuel firms in their portfolio but the other was not. There will always be holdings in a sustainable fund which would not appeal to some people.”
