Storebrand launches new ESG Fund

Storebrand Global ESG is a global equity fund aiming to achieve long-term capital growth by focusing on companies that maintain strong environmental, social and corporate governance credentials. The fund is suitable for customers searching for a broad global sustainable fund that follows index at a reasonable cost.

– We invest more in companies that score high in our sustainability rating, and less in companies that don´t, giving the fund a higher sustainability rating than other index funds, without changing expected return and risk significantly, says Jan Erik Saugestad, CEO Storebrand Asset Management.

The world index consist of approximately 1600 companies. Storebrand Global ESG invests in about 700 of these companies. Even so, the expected tracking error is only 0.5 percent. That means the fund's return will normally be within 0.5 percent of the benchmark return 2/3 of the time and usually within 1 percent of the benchmark return 95 percent of the time. Management fee is only 0.4 percent.

– The fund managers identify companies that act financially as the excluded companies but have a higher sustainability rating. This is why we say the fund is index near and why it´s an attractive alternative for customers searching for a broad global sustainable fund, at a reasonable cost, Saugestad points out.

Exclusion is not enough

All Storebrand funds follow Storebrand's standard for sustainable investments, which excludes over 180 companies from the Group's investment universe.

– To just exclude companies, is not enough. That is why we choose to invest more in companies with an attractive ESG profile positioned to deal with global challenges and that run their business sustainably. A win-win for the environment and the wallet, Saugestad concludes.

Past performance is no guarantee of future returns. Future returns depend on the market, fund manager skill, fund risk level and costs, among other things. The performance may be negative due to losses and it may vary considerably within periods.Unit holders’ realised gains or losses will therefore depend on the actual timing of subscriptions or redemptions.