Vontobel Asset Management Australia has launched a new unit trust for Australian and New Zealand wholesale investors, providing ESG principles to its emerging markets capabilities.
The new fund, which has an initial investor minimum of A$10 million, is called the ‘Vontobel mtx Sustainable Emerging Markets Leaders Fund’.
It consists of a concentrated portfolio of “highly profitable and well-positioned emerging market companies that trade at discounts relative to their peers and the overall market and that satisfy industry-specific ESG criteria”.
The fund, overall, avoids industries such as tobacco and weaponry that carry with them “elevated negative social stigma”, the company said.
The management of the fund, which is overseen by RE Equity Trustees, is sub-advised by Vontobel’s Zurich-based sustainable leaders equity team.
Vontobel says in a statement accompanying its information memorandum that the Zurich team consistently ranks among the top emerging market equity managers globally and has been recognised multiple times for its unique approach to ESG integration in the investment process.
Vontobel’s Australian managing director, Bobby Bostic, is based in Sydney.
Greg Bright is publisher of Investor Strategy News (Australia)