Independently owned fund manager Unicorn Asset Management has joined forces with WM Capital Management to launch a socially responsible ESG portfolio range within its Aim inheritance tax (IHT) service.
Investors in the service can now opt for additional ESG selection criteria through the Responsible Growth Focus or Responsible Income Focus portfolio options.
The responsible portfolio options also avoid businesses that derive revenues from excluded activities, such as weapons and gambling.
Unicorn Asset Management said it is “the first of its kind in the market”.
Details
Unicorn’s Aim IHT service aims to provide IHT exemption to investors, after an initial two-year holding period, by investing in a diversified portfolio of 25 to 40 Aim stocks that are eligible for business property relief and which qualify as Isa investments.
The initial fee for the service has been reduced to 0.5%, usually 2%, until 30 June 2021.
WM Capital Management acts as the discretionary fund manager to the service and is responsible for the day-to-day portfolio management. Unicorn is the investment adviser to the service, selecting portfolios of Aim stocks.
Expand ESG offering
Chris Hutchinson, director of Unicorn Asset Management, said: “While ESG investing has been widely embraced by the asset management industry, the Unicorn Responsible Growth Focus and Unicorn Responsible Income Focus IHT portfolios are the first to adopt these considerations within an Aim IHT service.
“We are therefore delighted to be able to offer these socially responsible ESG options for those who wish to align their investments with their broader social conscience.
“Conducting our research in-house delivers important advantages when investing in Aim-listed companies, where we have the opportunity to offer meaningful support to high growth, but typically under-broked and under-researched companies.
“We wish to maximise this opportunity within the Unicorn Aim IHT Portfolio Service, by providing investors with effective and efficient mitigation of their IHT liabilities without the time lag or complexities of some of the more traditional solutions, while also tailoring the service to meet the growing demand for socially responsible investment solutions.”
This article first appeared on ESG Clarity‘s sister title International Adviser