KBI Global Investors has announced the launch of two new sustainable strategies.

The new strategies are the Global Core Sustainable Strategy and the Global Health & Wellbeing Strategy.

The Global Core Sustainable Strategy is an Article 9 global equity fund that consists of 100-150 stocks (ex-energy) benchmarked to the MSCI ACWI.

The Global Health & Wellbeing Strategy will invest a range of medical, safety and wellness services with a social impact focus and benchmarked to the MSCI World Healthcare Index. The fund will be managed by portfolio manager, Craig Bonthron.

KBIGI CEO, Geoff Blake, said, “The Article 9 category has been poorly serviced, so it has been a real conundrum for investors these past years, trying to identify an investment solution which delivers a high exposure to sustainability – excluding stocks with poor credentials – and a well-diversified portfolio. Heightened volatility led many investors to divest; others simply haven’t been able to find an A9 solution delivering on their impact requirements, and which reduces performance dispersion – a key objective for investors.”

“The responsible investing landscape continues to evolve, with the industry characterised today not only by growth, but by a clear divergence in ambition, execution, and conviction”, says  “We are working against a complex geopolitical backdrop, some of our peers leaving the market over the last two years, some reining back on their commitment, others changing direction completely. This has of course been a difficult period for the relative performance of most A9 strategies, for two main reasons, namely the concentration of performance in equity markets from US Mega Tech stocks – a number of which align poorly with the United Nations Sustainability Development Goals – and the political and regulatory pushback to responsible investing, especially in the US. This has caused a shift in investor sentiment, but responsible investing is a core component of our investment approach here at KBI Global Investors and our conviction remains absolute, so whilst ours may seem a contrarian stance to some, we view current conditions as aligned with our long-term investment approach, our dialogue with investors underpinning our decision to launch.”

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