Osmosis Investment Management, the London-based boutique asset manager, has launched an Absolute Return fund with a bias towards resource efficient companies.
The Osmosis MoRE World Resource Efficiency fund is a sustainable investment fund that takes long positions in resource efficient companies and short positions in inefficient ones.
The ‘MoRE’ element of the fund’s name stands for Model of Resource Efficiency. This is the company’s proprietary investment database that it claims has enabled it to identify a new factor which is based on a company’s resource efficiency.
This database allows the investment team to analyse the energy use, water use and waste levels of listed companies, relative to revenue generation across 33 economic sectors.
Osmosis says this new factor is uncorrelated to traditional factors such as growth, value and momentum.
In a media statement announcing the new fund, Ben Dear, chief executive officer at Osmosis Investment Management, explained that investors are increasing seeking “responsible and sustainable investment opportunities, without sacrificing return on the altar of sustainability.”
He explained: “We looked at the lack of solutions in the alternatives space and used our tried and tested process to create a market neutral fund that rewards resource efficient firms and penalises inefficient ones.
“It offers clients much needed absolute returns, uncorrelated to equity markets, with a significantly reduced net environmental footprint.”
The new fund will launch on 3 August 2018 with £30 million in seed money from a European asset owner and a portfolio of 200 holdings.
The UK investment boutique has witnessed steady growth since its launch in 2009 and now manages some $1.5 billion in assets.
