FRANCE/LUXEMBOURG – Paris based quantitative management company, ABF Capital Management (ABF), has launched ABF Green Planet Fund, a Luxembourg based socially responsible investments equities fund, which applies a global environmental investment approach.

ABF, which has €1.6bn under management, has appointed New York-based financial services research firm, Innovest, as a partner for the fund.

The fund focuses on 60 environmental criteria, as defined by Innovest and implemented through its EcoValue21 system, which rates companies on a scale ranging from AAA to CCC.

ABF Green Planet Fund will focus on a selection of 250 equities rated between AAA and BBB under the EcoValue21 system from a universe comprising 600 large cap companies in the MSCI World Index. It has a maximum risk tracking error of 2-3%.

Other than environmental research, ABF’s investment management process relies on three other main criteria.

•Over-weightings. Portfolio construction according to the sensitivity of economic sectors towards the environment.

•Financial input and research. Fine tuning of stock selection to achieve an environmental approach at a reasonable price. ABF’s proprietary models focus on mid-term valuation criteria.

•Definitive weightings. Environmental and financial inputs combined with risk control techniques lead to final portfolio weightings.

ABF, which has some 150 European clients, made up of institutional investors, financial intermediaries and large companies, has been involved in SRI in France since1997.


Topics