European SRI and green fund sales suffer as market tumbles: RI Lipper stats

Both SRI and green-themed European retail funds followed the overall funds market downwards in terms of sales during June, with screened funds in particular taking a tumble, according to the latest available figures compiled for Responsible Investor by Lipper FMI, the investment data group. The sales performance continued the rollercoaster ride of market sales after both fund sectors had recorded a series of strong months of sales and asset growth. In June, however, ‘RI Screened Fund’ assets were hit by €2.68bn in reduced asset value. ‘RI screened’ funds, as they are labelled by Lipper FMI, are those which have undergone an ‘extra-financial’ ESG (environment, social and governance) screen in their stock selection process. Just one RI Screened Fund made it into treble figures: the UK domiciled, Sarasin Equistar Socially Responsible Equity Fund, with sales of €137.5m. Second best seller was Raifeissen’s Österreich-Rent bond fund with inflows of €88m. Third was KBC’s Luxembourg-domiciled Renta Sekarenta with receipts of €58.6m. The biggest RI Screened fund is Amundi’s Tréso ISR fund with €7.5bn. Second is Natixis’ Fonsicav with €4.33bn.Green themed and norms-based European RI retail fund sales also fell during June, a rare drop this year, with asset depression of €209.3m. The fund class, labelled by Lipper FMI as ‘RI Extended’, includes those with multiple ethical exclusions, those following a norms-based strategy, and themed climate change and microfinance funds. The fall came after positive sales in April (€626.5m), March (€742.3m) and a positive February with sector receipts of €764.7m. The best selling fund in June was UK fund manager Legal & General’s environmental equity fund, L&G Global Environmental Enterprises, with sales of €36.7m. Second was Estonia-based, Limestone Investment Management’s Luxembourg-domiciled Russian equities fund, LimeStone Fund NSP Russia Discovery, with sales of €27.2m. Third was Storebrand’s Norwegian equities fund, Storebrand Verdi, with sales of €26.3m. The biggest RI Extended fund is Pictet’s Water Fund with €2.3bn in assets. Second is Blackrock’s New Energy Fund with €1.8bn. June was a black month generally for European fund sales with total equity funds losing €1.7bn in assets.
See downloadable documents (left hand column) for top funds sales chart