From Hsinchu to Herzogenaurach

Investment objective

The fund aims to deliver capital growth over the medium term (3-5 years) by investing in what the fund managers believe to be the world’s most attractive sustainable investment opportunities. In this concentrated portfolio the fund management team can invest in both emerging and developed markets.

After charges, the fund seeks to outperform the MSCI All Countries World Net Total Return Index GBP by 2.5% p.a. over three-year rolling periods.

Key points

• High conviction portfolio aiming to invest in the best global sustainable companies – investing in companies providing solutions to long-term environmental and social challenges.
• Long-term active ownership – engagement and voting used to support and encourage positive corporate behaviour.
• Low carbon portfolio – actively avoiding carbon intensive industries while investing in companies at the forefront of the low carbon energy transition.
• Established and proven process – we have been doing this for over 15 years.
• Deep and broad internal sustainable investment expertise supported by an external advisory committee.

Fund facts

Fund management team

Co-fund managers Mike Fox, George Crowdy and Sebastien Beguelin are supported by a well-resourced responsible investing team with an average of 13 years in the industry. The team is an integral part of Royal London Asset Management’s wider equities and fixed income capabilities and draws on expertise across the business.

Investment approach

The fund invests in a limited number of companies from developed and emerging markets that the fund manager believes can create wealth for shareholders, but are currently undervalued. Suitable companies are identified by first using in-house screening tools to reduce the investment universe of 3,000+ shares to around 600 that the fund manager believes have the potential to create shareholder wealth. A “deeper-dive” analysis is then performed to identify what they believe to be the very best, attractively priced companies for investment.

The fund focuses on the sustainability of the products and services of the companies it invests in as well as their standards of environmental, social & governance (ESG) management, alongside financial analysis. The co-fund managers avoid investing in tobacco and armament manufacturers, nuclear-power generators, and companies that conduct animal testing (other than for purposes of human or animal health and/or where it is required by law or regulation). This exclusion policy helps to avoid companies the fund manager believes expose investors to unacceptable financial risk resulting from poor management of ESG issues. 

The fund will not invest in every company in the benchmark, typically building a concentrated portfolio of approximately 30-50 holdings.

Risk warning

Investments in emerging markets (such as the less developed markets of Asia, Africa, South America, and Eastern Europe) may be more volatile than investments in more developed markets (such as those of Western Europe, the US, and Japan). Some of these markets may have relatively unstable governments, economies based on only a few industries and securities markets that trade only a limited number of securities. Many emerging markets do not have well developed regulatory systems and disclosure standards may be less stringent than those of developed markets. For more information on the fund or the risks of investing, please refer to the fund factsheet, Prospectus or Key Investor Information Document (KIID).