Natixis Investment Managers launch today a series of ESG fund of funds aiming to leverage its growing sustainable investing expertise. This has seen a trio of Luxembourg-domiciled Ucits launched: Natixis ESG Conservative, Moderate and Dynamic funds.
At launch the range will have exposure to 14 funds from 5 of Natixis affiliated managers, which are Ostrum, Thematics Asset Management, Loomis Sayles, DNCA and Mirova.
All of the funds will be run by Natixis Investments Solutions’ multi-asset portfolio management team, which currently manages €57bn in assets, with €5.4bn of that focused on ESG investments. The lead portfolio manager is Nicolas Bozetto with more than 12 years of experience running ESG-related mandates.
As each affiliate has its own independent investment process with a customized ESG approach, all strategies undergo a rigorous selection test. The investment process starts by filtering for appropriate funds using a quantitative screen from an independent third-party provider, before qualitative assessments are done from both an ESG perspective and a classic fund selection angle. Finally, the Solutions team uses its own in-house risk management and tactical asset allocation process to manage the portfolio to meet defined risk & return objectives.
We have launched a new ESG fund range at a time when we believe the importance of ESG has never been more visible. We believe in ESG that makes a difference by helping to identify risk and drive financial performance.
Harald Walkate, head of CSR & ESG at Natixis Investment Managers
In developing the new fund of funds, Natixis IM has created its own proprietary selection method, called ‘conviction and narrative’. This will apply a framework to provide clarity to clients on ESG-related investment convictions. Natixis added that the rapid evolution of the ESG market has created demand for different approaches, which it can access through its own affiliates.
For the development of the Fund of Funds Natixis IM produced a proprietary selection methodology, called “Conviction & Narrative”. Applying this framework provides clarity to the client around the ESG-related investment convictions that are central to the manager’s investment strategy.
The ESG market is evolving rapidly and means many different things to different people. These funds give clients access to a wide range of ESG strategies across all asset classes in a risk-controlled manner. Our affiliates’ broad capabilities across the whole ESG spectrum give us an enviable breadth of investment opportunities, whilst having our process challenged by Natixis’s in-house ESG experts to stay true to our core beliefs.
James Beaumont, Head of Multi-Asset Portfolio Management at Natixis Investment Solutions
The ESG fund of funds are currently available in the following countries: Belgium, France, Netherlands and Spain, with further registrations expected in July. The funds employ derivative strategies to invest in multiple asset classes including equities, fixed income, currencies and indirectly investing in commodities.
