Stonehage Fleming launches first global sustainable equity fund

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tonehage Fleming Investment Management (SFIM) has announced the launch of its Global Sustainable Equity Fund. The move follows the launch of its Global Sustainable Investment Portfolios (GSIP) in 2019. The fund replace the equity component of GSIP, which returned 39.42% for the 19 months ending 30 April 2021.

Since launch, the fund has attracted $106m in assets from private and professional investors.

SFIM director Mona Shah said: “We strongly believe that today’s portfolio returns should not be at the expense of future generations. The outlook for ESG strategies today is more interesting than at the start of 2020, and we have seen increased appetite for this approach as clients actively seek to demonstrate their social capital in their investment philosophy and measure their positive contribution. By launching the Global Sustainable Equity Fund, we are going some way to meet their demands.”

Graham Wainer, chief executive and head of investments at SFIM, added: “We made the decision that this, our first standalone sustainable investment fund, should be focused solely on equity investments as we see them as the key drivers of return. Our equity investments can tackle a breadth of issues, including building back from Covid-19 and helping to address the majority of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. We can also measure and report the impact that our clients’ investments make towards creating a sustainable planet and society.”

Guy Hudson, partner and head of group marketing at Stonehage Fleming, continued: “Our published proprietary research, The Four Pillars of Capital: A time for reflection (2020), found that ultra-high net worth families and wealth creators have remained committed to ESG investment, despite the impact of Covid-19. Eight-three percent of respondents that applied ESG principles to their investments had not wavered from this, even as the pandemic caused turbulence in markets in the first half of 2020.”