The latest news on investment offerings, financial products and other services relevant to wealth advisors and their clients.

Union Bancaire Privée
Union Bancaire Privée, the Geneva-based private bank, has onboarded its first Article 8 fund on its alternative UCITS platform, U Access (Ireland) UCITS.

Launched in partnership with Bain Capital Public Equity, affiliate advisor of global private and public investment firm Bain Capital, U Access (IRL) Bain Capital Global Equity LS Sustainable UCITS pursues a long/short global equity strategy and includes ESG considerations in its investment strategies.

It aims to offer exposure to market gains while limiting losses in down markets. The strategy applies a private markets approach to public markets, over an intermediate time horizon to improve predictability and alpha generation.

Focusing on financial, TMT, healthcare and consumer, the fund is supported by the global Bain Capital platform and managed by a team of experienced investment advisors.

The fund’s strategy is the latest addition to UBP’s alternative UCITS platform, which, with more than $1 billion in assets under management, ranks among the largest platforms in the industry. 

“In 2021, our alternative UCITS platform reached this important $1 billion milestone, showing the appetite for such solutions among both institutional and private investors, and our ability to onboard high value-added and differentiated strategies. Sustainability analysis having become critical to assessing companies’ health and future earnings potential, it was a logical progression to onboard such a strategy and we are proud to be partnering with Bain Capital, who have put sustainability at the heart of their investment philosophy. Bain Capital Public Equity’s investment team has shown its ability to identify companies on the right side of ESG trends,” Nicolas Faller, co-chief executive officer of asset management at UBP, said.

“The Bain Capital Global Equity LS Sustainable strategy represents an extension of our continued firm-wide commitment to combining fact-based diligence with proactive integration of environmental, social and governance considerations into our investment strategies. We steadfastly believe that ESG, combined with the right active investment approach, will be an important driver of positive alpha and excess return generation – creating great outcomes for all stakeholders. We are thrilled to join UBP’s alternative UCITS platform, which offers unrivalled access to sophisticated private and institutional clients. This is a major milestone and vote of confidence in our unique, private market approach to sustainable long/short investing in public equities,” Bain Capital’s co-managing partner Jonathan Lavine and managing director Joshua Ross, at Bain Capital Public Equity, said.

UBP is one of Switzerland’s leading private banks, and is amongst the best-capitalised, with a Tier 1 ratio of 25.3 per cent. The bank, which specialises in the field of wealth management for both private and institutional clients, employs 1,808 people in over twenty locations worldwide, and holds SFr161.1 billion in assets under management (all figures as at 30 June 2021).

Invesco
Invesco has launched an environmental bond fund targeting income and growth in a way that supports the transition to a low-carbon economy.

The Invesco Environmental Climate Opportunities Bond Fund, or Eco Bond, combines traditional credit research with corporate climate analysis to invest in bonds issued by companies with strong climate characteristics.

It will target corporate issuers in the investment grade, high yield and emerging markets sectors, but also includes government bonds for risk management and liquidity purposes.
 
The fund will invest in issuers with low emissions; those with high emissions that have significant potential to reduce their carbon output; green, transition and sustainability-linked bonds which aim to raise funds for climate-friendly projects; and companies that have made commitments to net-zero carbon emissions.
 
The fund is managed by Michael Matthews, co-head of the Henley fixed interest team, and Tom Hemmant, fixed income fund manager. The Invesco Henley fixed interest team is responsible for ÂŁ25 billion assets under management and has a 26-year track record of managing corporate bond funds, Invesco said.
 
The fund’s managers will also draw on the experience of Invesco’s ESG team. Led by Cathrine de Coninck-Lopez, it has added eight new members in the past year.

Invesco’s “Climate Comparator,” which measures a range of climate indicators such as CO2 data and third-party assessments, will help identify investment opportunities among businesses performing well compared with others in their sector when it comes to climate change. The Eco Bond will exclude businesses that derive a specified proportion of their revenues from non-sustainable sources, like companies where thermal coal extraction generates more than five per cent of revenue.
 
“To meet the commitments outlined in the 2015 Paris Agreement the world will have to undergo a rapid decarbonisation of economic and social activity on an unprecedented scale. The financing requirements are enormous and the level of support needed to improve clean energy and energy efficiency presents a huge opportunity for investors. Our blended approach to climate investing seeks to capitalise on this opportunity by focusing on issuers with strong climate characteristics and an attractive potential return profile,” Michael Matthews, co-head of the Henley Fixed Interest team, said.
 
“The ECO Bond Fund is a response to substantial client demand for a strategy which leverages the vast expertise of our 24-strong Henley Fixed Interest team in combination with our considerable ESG capabilities to invest for income and growth in a way that supports decarbonisation. It will enable investors to benefit from and support climate positive companies tackling climate change, and adds to the breadth and depth of sustainable investment solutions we offer across all asset classes,” Alexander Millar, head of UK distribution at Invesco, said.