Asset Managers

Sustainable investing may be taking the wider investment fund world by storm, especially in Europe. But when it comes to liquid alternative funds, the sustainable wave is less advanced.

Some in the liquid alternative space remain openly dismissive of sustainability as an investment principle. Certain liquid alternative providers use derivatives,  making it more difficult to integrate sustainability criteria. Derivatives are excluded from the EU’s Taxonomy.

For Zurich-based Serpentine Ventures, a venture asset manager, Luxembourg is a key gateway to reaching international investors. The firm is leveraging the grand duchy’s regime for alternative investment funds for four of its venture capital funds that nurture Swiss startups.

Nuveen Infrastructure’s Glennmont Partners, a major clean energy infrastructure manager, on Thursday said it has raised 250 million euro through its energy transition enhanced credit II strategy, or ETEC II, based on a Luxembourg alternative fund.

The ETEC II fund is one of the new Reserved Alternative Investment Funds, or Raifs, that were officially registered in Luxembourg this month. 

​​​​​​​Ambitions to build on Luxembourg’s global hub status for investment funds to make this country a global fund distribution centre are being held back by differing national approaches on regulations as well as prudential rules, despite efforts to harmonise European legislation and the EU’s cross-border fund framework. 

“Capital markets are in complete disarray and we are detecting structural changes,” said Ewout van Schaick, head of multi assets at NN Investment Partners, talking to InvestmentOfficer.nl in a podcast interview. 

While industry’s investment losses are beginning to show, the strong performance from recent years makes institutional investors reluctant to change their investment course. “Not an easy situation,” says the chief of Europe’s biggest pension body.

Top market experts at Europe’s biggest fund manager, Amundi, do not believe that the upcoming elections in Italy will trigger much volatility in Italian bond markets, although a spike could present a buying opportunity. Italy’s parliamentary elections are scheduled for the end of this week, Sunday 25 September.

Following 1.55 million euro in regulatory fines, Luxembourg investment firm Fuchs & Associés Finance SA is stepping up efforts to address internal compliance problems, adding additional directors and compliance staff to bring its governance back in line with legal requirements.

Belgian police authorities have launched a criminal investigation in Antwerp-based stockbroker Merit Capital, a Belgian press report said on Thursday. The probe is linked to its transactions with H2O Asset Management.

Merit Capital’s future is up in the air after several attempts to find a buyer failed. Luxembourg’s Fuchs & Associés was forced to step back as a possible buyer last month. 

German state-owned bank KfW has become the first to have issued a total of more than 50 billion euro in green bonds on the Luxembourg Green Exchange, known as LGX, the Luxembourg Stock Exchange said. This achievement was marked by a LuxSE bell ceremony on Monday.

KfW issued its first green bond 8 years ago and has since issued about 100 green bonds, raising some 50 billion euro for green projects. Its significant green funding programme makes KfW one of the 10 largest sustainable bond issuers in the world.