Responsible Investor

Aberdeen Asset Managers has raised $60m seed capital from investors for the launch of the Aberdeen Global – Responsible World Equity Fund, which it has launched in response to increasing demand for socially responsible investment (SRI). The Fund, managed by Aberdeen’s global equity team, led by Stephen Docherty, will employ an SRI overlay for environmental, social and governance issues. The fund will exclude companies whose turnover exceeds 10% in the production or sale of alcohol, tobacco or gambling; military; and weapons, or 5% of pornographic products.
Germany will use part of the proceeds from selling carbon permits to industry from 2008 to help support the fight against climate change in developing nations, Sigmar Gabriel, German Environment Minister has said. The country will set aside annually about 120 million euros (US$173 million) or more, depending on the price of carbon permits, to help fund efforts in poorer nations to adapt to and prevent global warming.
AP1, the SEK221bn (€24bn), Swedish buffer fund has withdrawn its delegate from the nomination committee at Carnegie, the Swedish bank, in protest against the independence of its proposed new chairman, Anders Fällman, chief executive of Invik, the Swedish private bank, reports ipe.com. Carnegie has been warned by the Swedish supervisor Finansinspektionen (FI) it might lose its license over “serious deficiencies” in the bank’s governance. The FI imposed a SEK50m fine and called on Carnegie to replace its chief executive.
BNY Mellon Asset Management has launched a long-term global equity fund within its pooled funds

range sold in the UK pensions market. The fund, managed by subsidiary specialist fund manager, Walter Scott & Partners, will take a long-term ‘buy and hold’ approach to stock picking with normal holding periods ranging from five to seven years aimed at the long-term time horizons of defined benefit and defined contribution pension schemes. Stock turnover will be less than 20% per annum.
Pax World Management, the US SRI mutual fund manager, has acquired the assets of FEMMX Financial Company, the investment adviser for the Professionally Managed Portfolios’ Women’s Equity Fund,
which at launch in 1993 was the first mutual fund to focus on evaluating companies according to their policies and practices toward women’s social and economic equality.
A recent report by Catalyst (www.catalystwomen.org), said Fortune 500 companies with the highest representation of women on their boards of directors attained significantly higher financial performance on average than those with the lowest representation.
KLD Research & Analytics, the US SRI investment research company, has launched an Iran Compliance product aimed at institutional investors and money managers that could soon be legally forced to divest from companies with involvement in the country. A number of US states are currently debating laws banning investments in Iran. Californian pension fund giants, Calpers and Calstrs have said they will have to sell combined assets of $3.4bn (€2.4bn) if companies they hold stock in don’t halt their operations in Iran, after the

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