Norway’s largest private asset manager to provide sustainable investment strategies.
Storebrand Asset Management is starting to market its leading sustainable investment solutions and is initially launching three ESG-oriented equity funds: Storebrand Global ESG Plus, Storebrand Global Solutions and Storebrand Global Multifactor. Since June 2019, these strategies have been approved as sub-funds within a SICAV structure in Luxembourg, thus facilitating access for European investors.
With about €91 billion1 assets under management, Storebrand Group is Norway’s largest private asset manager and a leading Nordic provider of sustainable pensions and savings. The Group follows a multi-boutique approach with the Storebrand Funds, SKAGEN Funds, Delphi Funds, Cubera and SPP Funds in Sweden.
The company has more than 20 years of experience in ESG investing, offering broad and scalable solutions for both institutional and private investors. As part of Storebrand Asset Management, SKAGEN continues to operate as an independent fund manager with its own funds and is now able to distribute a number of Storebrand funds to Belgian and Luxembourgish investors.
Jan Erik Saugestad, CEO of Storebrand Asset Management, says: “Sustainable solutions are more in demand than ever. Our excellent expertise in sustainability, smart beta, sustainable index and specialist active products allows us to offer a unique range of products. Through our multi-boutique platform we are well positioned to provide our investment solutions to a broad range of investors.”
Nordic sustainability pioneers
Storebrand was the first Norwegian company to establish a dedicated sustainable investment department in 1995 and has one of the most experienced ESG teams in the Nordic region. Its group-wide sustainable investment policy, which applies to all assets under management, is based on three pillars: Exclusions, Integration and Active Ownership. We believe the full potential of a sustainable investment strategy is only realised when applying the approaches together.
Exclusion: Storebrand’s exclusion policy - the Storebrand Standard – prohibits any investment in companies involved in tobacco or weapons, contributing extensively to climate change or with significant revenue from unsustainable products (e.g. coal, oil sands, palm oil) or those that violate international laws, conventions and human rights. Currently, 215 companies are excluded.2
Integration: Storebrand’s proprietary Sustainability Rating system evaluates more than 3,000 companies on their ESG risks and opportunities aligned with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. This analysis is systematically integrated into the investment processes to identify the most sustainable companies.
Active Ownership: Storebrand actively exercises its shareholder rights and uses its scale to engage in direct dialogue with companies, often in cooperation with other investors to increase our influence. Examples of such cooperation are PRI with Climate Action 100+ and other working groups as part of the PRI initiative on the topics methane risk, soy, cattle, and palm oil. In several of these investor groups, Storebrand takes a leading role. Storebrand is a signatory of the Montréal Carbon Pledge and Portfolio Decarbonisation Coalition, and has committed to a total exit from coal investments by 2026 in line with the recommendations from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
About the funds:
Storebrand Global ESG Plus is an index-based global equity strategy that tracks the risk/reward profile of the MSCI World Index, but excludes fossil fuels. The fund invests in companies that perform very well according to Storebrand’s Sustainability Rating and avoids companies that rank poorly and extract fossil fuels or are carbon intensive. The strategy also invests in companies that benefit particularly from climate change (so-called green solutions). Originally launched in April 2017, the Storebrand Global ESG Plus managed by Henrik Wold Nilsen was launched as a Luxembourg-based mirror fund in June 2019. The Global ESG Plus strategy currently has around €2.1 billion assets under management. With a tracking error < 1, the annualised returns since its inception has been 11.24%.3
https://www.storebrandfunds.lu/fundinfo?isin=LU1932669598
Storebrand Global Solutions is an actively managed global equity portfolio investing in sustainable impact companies. Managed by Philip Ripman, the strategy is fossil-free and seeks to generate alpha by identifying businesses from developed and emerging markets that provide solutions to help achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Launched in October 2012, Storebrand Global Solutions has €1 billion assets under management and has delivered annualised returns of 13,76.4 since inception.
https://www.storebrandfunds.lu/fundinfo?isin=LU1932656777
The Storebrand Global Multifactor seeks to generate strong capital growth through a long-only, model-based investment approach that combines sustainability with four equally weighted risk factors value, size, momentum and low volatility. Launched in November 2013 and managed by Andreas Poole, the fund invests in 300 to 400 large and mid-sized companies in developed markets to create a sector and geography neutral portfolio. Storebrand Multifactor has €1.2 billion assets under management and has generated an annualised return of 7.76% since inception.5
https://www.storebrandfunds.lu/fundinfo?isin=LU1932676700
Jan Erik Saugestad, CEO of Storebrand Asset Management, says: “Storebrand started sustainable investing as a pioneer more than 20 years and we are excited to extend our reach. The need to address global environmental and social challenges has never been greater and our priority is to deliver sustainable investment solutions which provide clients with optimal risk-adjusted returns without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
For enquiries, please contact:
michel.ommeganck@skagenfunds.com
Disclaimer:
Historical returns are no guarantee for future returns. Future returns will depend, inter alia, on market developments, the fund manager’s skill, the fund’s risk profile and subscription and management fees. The return may become negative as a result of negative price developments.