Shell UK pension fund among new UN PRI signatories

The £10.5bn (€12bn) Shell Contributory Pension Fund (SCPF) in the UK is among a raft of major financial industry names that have signed up to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment recently.
SCPF joins its Dutch sister Stichting Shell Pensioenfonds as a signatory to the PRI, according to a listing on the PRI’s web site.
There are now a total of 726 signatories to the PRI, comprising 203 asset owners, 386 investment managers and 137 service providers.
Other new signatories:

• Swisscanto, Switzerland. Asset manager owned by the Cantonal banks with £32bn under management.
• FunktionærPension, Denmark. Has an agreement with GES Investment Services to screen equities and bonds twice a year; says ESG is included in its selection of asset managers and other financial partners.
• ValueInvest Asset Management, Luxembourg. Will “incorporate social responsibility in investment processes and exert positive influence on companies with ethical problems in cooperation with other investors” – though it will refrain “from participating in campaigns”.
• The Townsend Group, US. Real estate manager with more than $100bn under management for pension funds, corporations, foundations and endowments.
• Longview Partners, UK. Asset manager focusing on “fundamental, bottom-up research-driven process”, founded by ex-Goldman Sachs managers Keith McDermott and Ramzi Rishani.* LM Capital Group, US. Runs fixed income portfolios for institutional investors.
• Alleron Investment Management, Australia. Boutique large-cap growth manager, headed by CIO Albert Hung.
• Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management, Japan. With more than $100bn in AUM, it says: “We believe that we would be able to make our research more sophisticated by explicitly analyzing non-financial factors such as ESG and to improve investment performance.”
• Alto Invest, France. Private equity house set up by Antoine Valdes and Jean-François Paumelle.
• NEXPAR, Brazil: Energy sector investment management firm.
• Morrison & Co, New Zealand. Infrastructure manager which runs the flagship Infratil fund, with a total under management of NZ$5bn. Says ESG analysis is an integral part of its due diligence.
• IPM Informed Portfolio Management, Sweden. Quantitative investment management firm, screens equities via GES Investment Services. Says integrating ESG “provides long term benefits to financial performance in terms of both better risk management and value generation.”
• Media Super, Australia. AUD2.5bn fund for print, media, entertainment and arts professionals, formed in 2008 with merger of Print Super and Just Super.
• Conatix, US/Germany. Consulting firm.