SRI and green fund sales turn positive in April after March dip

Money market funds remain popular as investors stay cautious on SRI equity funds.

by Hugh Wheelan | June 15th, 2009

Total sector sales of European screened SRI funds in April turned positive again at €682.5m following a black month in March when €25.3m was pulled from the SRI funds universe. Confidence in equity SRI funds was still muted, however, with money market funds remaining the best sellers and securing the top three sales slots. Number one fund for in-flows was French insurance company MACIF’s Court Terme ISR (short-term SRI) fund with estimated net sales of €204m. Second biggest selling SRI screened fund in March was French bank Société Générale’s cash fund, SGAM Invest Monetaire ISR, which took in €137.9m adding to the €216.3m in collect that it took in during March when it was the best selling fund. In third place was Allianz’s Securicash SRI fund which grossed €134.2m. SRI screened funds are labeled as those that have undergone an ‘extra financial’ ESG screen in their stock selection process. The three largest European SRI funds remained, as in March, cash portfolios. SGAM Invest Monetaire ISR is the biggest with €1.89bn, followed by Allianz’s France based Securicash SRI with €1.74bn and in third place BNP Paribas’ Moné Etheis cash fund with €1.44bn.
Investment in green funds, which have been re-categorised as RI ‘extended’ to include funds with multiple investment exclusions, microfinance investments and other strategies based on adherence to international norms, as well as themed environmental funds, were also slightly up on the month with net sales for the sector of €36.2m. That reversed outflows of €8.9m across the sector in March.
Pictet’s Water fund was the best seller with inflows of €47.6m. Belgian fund manager Dexia’s Micro-Credit – Blueorchard Debt Fund was second with sales of €45.7m. Swiss fund manager Vontobel’s Global Trend Future Resources fund was third with sales of €41.4m. Europe’s biggest ‘RI extended’ fund is Blackrock’s New Energy Fund with €2.24bn, followed by Pictet’s Water fund with €2.1bn.
Total mainstream equity fund sales for the month of April were once again positive at €4.4bn, signaling growing bullishness in equity markets after sales of €845.1m in March.
See downloads for April stats