The latest news in investment offerings, financial products and other services relative to wealth advisors and their clients.

Nomura Asset Management
Japan’s Nomura Asset Management (NAM) has just launched a new Global Sustainable Equity fund vehicle on behalf of France’s investment manager Caisse des Dépôts and its client, French public sector pension fund Ircantec.

The mandate, launched in December 2024, is a tailored version of NAM’s existing Global Sustainable Equity (GSE) Fund which NAM opened for investment in 2019. The core GSE Fund is a concentrated global equity strategy that aims to deliver risk-adjusted returns by investing in companies that the team believes to have high positive total stakeholder impact. Once fully funded, the Global Sustainable Equity franchise will be approaching $1.8 billion in assets under management across the core strategy and its variants which include environmentally enhanced and Sharia versions, the firm said in a statement.

The fund is registered in Ireland, and available to investors in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK.

“Winning this business against such strong competition is a fantastic testament to all of the dedication the global equity team has put in over the last decade to create an approach to ESG and sustainable investment that is highly differentiated within our industry,” the lead portfolio manager, Alex Rowe, said. “We tailored the strategy of our core Global Sustainable Equity Fund for the client and this reflects a trend within the sustainable investment industry towards working with clients on a more bespoke, partnership basis to support individual goals and viewpoints."

“We are pleased to welcome Caisse des Dépôts and Ircantec to our ever-growing pool of GSE clients,” Kenichi Suzuki, senior managing director and head of global business unit NAM UK added. 

Headquartered in Tokyo, Nomura has investment offices throughout the world including London, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Taipei, Frankfurt and New York.

Evelyn Partners
UK-based wealth manager Evelyn Partners Sustainable Managed Portfolio Service (MPS) team has just added three new funds to its portfolios in its latest rebalance: Vanguard UK Government Bond, iShares up to 10 Years Gilts Index and M&G Global Sustain Paris Aligned.  

The latest rebalance saw trades across all asset classes as the team repositioned the six portfolios for the year ahead. Four holdings were sold: Vanguard US Government Bond Index (hedged); Brown Advisory Sustainable Total Return Bond; Trojan Ethical Income; and SDCL Energy Efficiency Income Trust.  

“In fixed income, exposure to sovereign bonds was adjusted to reflect our preference for having nominal exposure in the UK, where a growth shock is more likely, and inflation-protected exposure in the US,” Genevra Banszky von Ambroz, lead manager of the Evelyn Partners Sustainable MPS said. “iShares Up To 10 Years Gilts Index and Vanguard UK Government Bond Index funds were introduced to reflect this. Within our corporate bonds allocation, holdings in the TwentyFour Sustainable Total Return Bond Income and Aegon Global Short Dated Climate Transition Bond funds were increased.” 

“Mindful that the UK equity market continues to trade at a substantial discount to the US market (albeit with a distinct lack of a clear catalyst for this to reverse), but also recognising that exposure within the models is relatively high when compared with Evelyn Partners’ Tactical Asset Allocation view, holdings in Liontrust UK Ethical, Jupiter Responsible Income and Royal London Sustainable Leaders were reduced,” she added 

On the decision to sell Trojan Ethical Income and take profits from CT Responsible Global Equity and Brown Advisory US Sustainable Growth, where US technology exposure is higher, the team decided to recycle the proceeds into Core Global, Core US and Thematic strategies. The team avoided adding materially to segments of the market where valuations reflect particularly optimistic expectations of future earnings.  

“Included within these changes were the introduction of the M&G Global Sustain Paris Aligned fund and an increase to Regnan Sustainable Water and Waste,” Banszky von Ambroz said. “Absolute return and gold positions were increased in our alternatives allocation. SDCL Energy Efficiency Income Trust was sold in our Growth and Adventurous portfolios, with the proceeds used to buy Cordiant Digital Infrastructure, an existing holding in the lower risk models.”