Aviva Investors, the global asset management business of Aviva Plc, today announces the launch of the Aviva Investors Climate Transition Global Credit Fund with a $350 million strategic capital allocation from the Aviva Investors UK multi-asset range and the Aviva Ireland multi-asset portfolio. The Fund aims to identify and invest in companies offering goods and services for climate change mitigation and those best-placed to transition to a warmer, lower-carbon world.
Aligned with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the firm’s wider ESG approach, the fund is designed to enable credit investors to participate in positive climate outcomes. It complements the Aviva Investors Climate Transition Global Equity Fund and the Aviva Investors Climate Transition European Equity Fund.
The fund will be co-managed by portfolio managers Tom Chinery and Justine Vroman and climate specialist Rick Stathers. Tom and Justine have over 10 and nine years of experience in asset management respectively and Rick has studied and worked in climate change for over 25 years. They will benefit from the research and analysis of Aviva Investors’ 125-strong global credit team and over 25 ESG analysts.
The fund’s investment approach excludes fossil fuel companies and targets solutions providers that generate current or future material revenue by addressing climate-related themes, such as the shift to renewable energy sources, sustainable transport and more environmentally-conscious lending.
Significantly, the approach also aims to capture transition-oriented companies with low decarbonisation and physical impact risk, extending the investment universe beyond businesses with obvious green credentials. The fund will be benchmarked against the Bloomberg Barclays Global Aggregate Corporates Index, and invest predominantly in investment grade companies, with a small allocation of up to 5% in high yield bonds. Importantly, the fund will invest in cash bonds and have a long/short CDS basket to target opportunities arising from the market inefficiencies around climate change.
Source