The new Standard Life Investments European Corporate Bond Sustainable and Responsible Investing Fund will be managed by investment director Samantha Lamb, with support from fellow investment director Craig MacDonald.
Environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors will be integrated into the fund’s investment process and companies that fail to comply with the principles of the United Nations Global Compact will be excluded from the portfolio.
In addition, it will not invest in companies that manufacture cluster bombs or nuclear weapons and will avoid firms with a poor record of performance and disclosure on sustainability issues in sectors with high sensitivity to environmental and social factors.
Julie McDowell, head of SRI at Standard Life Investments, said: “Our European Corporate Bond Fund has been popular across Europe, but we are now experiencing demand for an SRI version in particular from The Netherlands, Scandinavia and Switzerland.
“The new fund will tap into the expertise of our corporate bond team and build on the integration of ESG into our investment process.”
The asset manager is also considering adding a further seven funds to the Standard Life Investments Global Sicav, subject to demand.
Four of the mooted products – the US Corporate Bond, Emerging Market Debt, European Corporate Bond Excluding Financials and Euro Aggregate funds – look at the fixed-income space. The Japanese Equity Unconstrained, Global Emerging Markets Equities and Global Emerging Markets Equity Unconstrained funds would invest in equities.
Standard Life Investments said the seven funds, which were included in the Sicav’s most recent prospectus, have no set timetable for launch but are in the product pipeline while investor demand is gauged.
