Environmental fund specialist Impax Asset Management has seen its assets under management reach a new peak of £6bn (€7bn) as at the end of April. It had total net inflows of £870m during the six months to the end of March. Revenue rose to £13.9m against £9.4m in the prior year period while pre-tax profit grew to £2.4m against £2.1m. CEO Ian Simm said: “Our AUM has now reached a new peak of £6bn and we can report record net inflows and significant progress with fundraising for our new private equity renewable infrastructure fund.”
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) in collaboration with the Government of Canada have established a new US$151m trust fund to encourage greater private sector participation in the bank’s climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts, whilst also focusing on gender equality. The new fund, the Canadian Climate Fund for the Private Sector in Asia II (CFPS II), was announced at the Annual Meeting of ADB’s Board of Governors in Yokohama, Japan by ADB President Takehiko Nakao and Celina Caesar-Chavannes, Parliamentary Secretary to Canada’s Minister of International Development.
Taiwan’s Bureau of Labor Funds (BLF), the supervisory body of the island’s labour pension funds, has reportedly appointed Northern Trust, Deutsche Bank, BlackRock, and State Street Global Advisors as managers of its $2.4bn passive Global ESG Quality Mix Equity Indexation Mandate. The BLF would not confirm the involvement of any global managers to RI but did state its belief that its ESG mandate is a first for Taiwan. According to the BLF’s documents four managers will be selected to each manage $600m – of which $250m will be on behalf of the Labor Pension Fund, the largest defined contribution retirement scheme supervised by the BLF, $150m will managed for the Labor Retirement Fund, and $100 million each will be managed for the National Pension Insurance Fund and the Labor Insurance Fund. Applications for the mandate ended in January for the fund which will benchmarked against the MSCI ACWI ESG ex Selected Sub-Industries Quality Mix E Series Capped Index.
The TriLinc Global Impact Fund has approved $28.4m in term loan and trade finance transactions with companies operating in Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia. The US-based impact investing fund provides growth-stage loans and trade finance to established small and medium enterprises in developing economies.Norges Bank Investment Management said it would vote in favour of the remuneration policy, and all other resolutions put for shareholder approval at the annual general meeting of Royal Bank of Scotland this week, despite criticism from investor advisory groups, including Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), which urged investors to oppose the banks’ new paper policy. “We commend the Board’s willingness to challenge conventional thinking on remuneration,” NBIM said. It added that the board’s proposal to change the pay structure to be simpler, with greater long-term alignment to shareholders and with executive directors having significant alignment in shares both during and after employment was “in broad harmony” with its own position paper on CEO remuneration.
Swiss asset manager Susi Parters is launching a renewables and energy efficiency fund focused on Asia. The Asia Energy Transition Fund will invest in renewable energy projects and energy efficiency upgrades to existing infrastructure in emerging markets in Asia. South Pole Group, which has a history of working with carbon offset projects in Asia, will source projects for the fund, while Susi will be responsible for asset management. The fund, which claims it will be SRI compatible and “can be counted as an impact investment”, is currently recruiting a managing director to build the portfolio.
UK financial trade associations the Wealth Management Association (WMA) and the Association of Professional Financial Advisers (APFA) have reportedly announced their intention to merge, becoming the Investment Management & Financial Advice Association (IMFA), effective from 1 June. The merged body, if approved by members, would represent UK firms by offering a range of financial solutions, including investment advice and portfolio management.
UK-based investment manager M&G Investments has joined the Climate Bonds Initiative’s Partners Program. The program aims to draw on its members’ experience (including banks, bond issuers, developers, NGOs and investors) to grow investment in climate change solutions, participate in market development committees, and help define policy agendas for sector, country and sub-national programs. Link
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