HSBC’s Canada asset management arm closes climate fund

HSBC’s Canadian fund management subsidiary has closed its three-and-a-half-year-old climate change fund.
HSBC Global Asset Management (Canada) Ltd. said it would close and wind up the HSBC Global Climate Change Fund on or around August 19.
“Effectively immediately, new investments into the HSBC Global Climate Change Fund will no longer be accepted,” it said in a statement. The decision to close the fund was based on the small fund size and relatively small number of unit holders, it added.

The fund, which used a quantitative investment approach, was launched at the end of 2007. It aimedto “provide long-term capital growth by investing in securities of companies involved in activities related to climate change such as, alternative energies, energy efficiency, water, waste and pollution control”. It has returned -11.45% since inception.
It sought out equities of quoted firms in developed and emerging markets with a market capitalisation above US$500m, selected from the HSBC Global Climate Change Benchmark Index.
At launch, HSBC Canada said it reflected its “conviction that climate change is an ongoing and sustainable investment opportunity”.