River and Mercantile (R&M) is launching two sustainable equity funds with seed capital from multi-asset investment provider Quilter Investors, via its Cirilium Active portfolios.
Each will comply with a different Sustainable Financial Disclosure Regulation.
The Article 9-compliant R&M European Change for Better Fund will be managed by James Sym (pictured) who was promoted to head of equities in May 2022.
The Article 8-compliant R&M Global Sustainable Opportunities Fund will be managed by William Lough, who is currently lead portfolio manager on R&M’s UK Dynamic Equity and International High Alpha Strategies and co-manager on the Global High Alpha Strategy.
Both strategies will follow R&M’s Sustainable-PVT (S-PVT) investment philosophy, which incorporates sustainability into the team’s long-established process, looking at Potential, Valuation and Timing.
Avoiding the typical ESG ‘darlings’
Paul Craig, portfolio manager of Quilter Investors’ Cirilium Active range, said: “These new funds represent a great diversification opportunity for our clients. We are impressed by R&M’s differentiated approach to sustainable investing, which avoids the typical ESG ‘darlings’, and consequently offers a strong alpha-generating opportunity.”
Simon Smith, head of UK wholesale distribution at R&M, added: “Paul and the Quilter team have been extremely supportive of the funds’ sustainable objectives and we’re delighted that our proactive philosophy clearly resonates with investors.”
Sym said: “We want 2022 to be remembered as the year that the asset management industry started doing ESG properly. We will be investing in companies we expect to make a big improvement in their carbon footprint, as well as those companies that enable this improvement for others. This fits well with our contrarian and valuation-orientated mindset. We are looking to buy tomorrow’s ESG stars at yesterday’s valuations.”
