Responsible Funds & Indices, Nov. 29: NASDAQ/CRD, Johannesburg SE, BM&FBOVESPA

Funds

The Jupiter Green Investment Trust, the UK-listed environmental vehicle, says its total return for the six months ended 30 September was 7.5%, compared to returns of 3.9% for its benchmark, the MSCI World Small Cap Index. During the same period the FTSE ET100 TR index, which tracks the performance of the largest 100 global environmental companies, returned 14.5%, it added.

AMP Capital’s Community Infrastructure Fund is to acquire the Partnerships Victoria in Schools Project in Melbourne from the Royal Bank of Scotland. The project involves the operations and maintenance of 11 school facilities and is the third schools Public Private Partnership (PPP) acquisition by the fund in the past 18 months.

Crescent Wealth, the Australia-based asset management firm founded in 2011, reportedly plans to launch an Islamic fund investing in commercial property next year. Reuters cited Managing Director Talal Yassine as saying Crescent is working on a closed-end fund of up to A$1bn (€668m) which would hold investment-grade commercial and industrial properties across the country.

US bank Wells Fargo has announced a $1m equity equivalent investment in Grameen America, the microfinance organization that’s focused on helping women who live in poverty in the US to build small businesses.

A new Islamic trade finance fund has been launched by EIIB-Rasmala. The Cayman Islands-domiciled Rasmala Trade Finance Fund will invest in a portfolio of trade finance transactions exposed to different geographies, industry groups and individual companies. EIIB-Rasmala is listed on London’s AIM and comprises the European Islamic Investment Bank and Rasmala Group.h6. Indices

Six companies have been added to the NASDAQ OMX CRD Global Sustainability Index, which tracks US listed companies taking a leadership role in sustainability performance reporting. They are Baker Hughes, CSX Corporation, Mohawk Industries, ArcelorMittal, Spectra Energy Corp and Union Pacific. “These are companies that are voluntarily disclosing their current environmental, social and governance risks as well as their revenue opportunities,” a statement said. Six companies will be removed: Campbell Soup Co.; Nokia; Orange; PepsiCo; Telefónica; and Vodafone.

Brazilian exchange BM&FBOVESPA has announced the Corporate Sustainability Index (ISE) portfolio for 2014, the ninth version of the index. Effective from January 6, the new portfolio is composed of 51 stocks of 40 companies, with a combined market capitalization of BRL1.14trn (€360bn), or 47% of the combined figure for all of the companies traded on the exchange.

The Johannesburg Stock Exchange says the number of companies fulfilling the requirements of its Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) index fell to 72 in 2013 as it continues to “raise the bar for index constituents”. The index was broadened this year to include small-cap companies, with all 157 companies in the FTSE/JSE All Share Index being assessed for the first time.

Two New York-listed healthcare companies are set to be removed from the Calvert Social Index from fund firm Calvert Investments. Medical technology firm CareFusion Corporation and pharmaceutical and medical device group Hospira have been reviewed and no longer meet the index’s standards for product safety. If approved, the deletion will take place in December 2013.