Value Partners Launches the Group's First Article 8 UCITS* ESG Fund
Asia’s First ESG-focused Food and Nutrition Thematic Fund.
Value Partners Group Limited (together with its subsidiaries, "Value Partners" or "the Group", Hong Kong Stock Code: 806) announces the launch of the Asian Food and Nutrition Fund (the "Fund"), which is the Group's first Article 8, Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transformable Securities (UCITS) compliant equity fund. It also marks the first HKSFC-authorized Asia ex-Japan-focused food and nutrition thematic ESG fund.
Through active selection and engagement of companies leveraging the Group’s more than 30 years of regional equity research experience, the Fund seeks to address environmental, sustainability and safety challenges surrounding the food value-chain in Asia, while also delivering attractive long-term total returns for investors. The Fund invests across the entire food value-chain from farm to fork, and employs a bottom-up stock selection approach to identify quality companies in the universe that benefit from three structural trends: 1. growing demand on food and nutrition upgrade, 2. increasing application of food and agriculture technology that improves sustainability and safety and 3. Increasing food services penetration.
The Fund is managed by lead portfolio manager Norman Ho, Senior Investment Director, and co-managed with Lilian Cao, Investment Director. The Fund targets 30-50 high conviction holdings with strong financial fundamentals, and is driven by screening and exclusion of controversial sectors, alignment of respective United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG), and proprietary ESG assessment framework and financial models.
June WONG, Chief Executive Officer at Value Partners Group, said, "ESG is an important pillar of our growth strategy given rising demand from clients globally to address major environmental and sustainability challenges. We are excited to be a pioneer in launching the first Article 8 UCITS-compliant Fund that seeks to address food and nutrition challenges in Asia. The launch of the Fund allows investors not only in Hong Kong, but also globally to benefit from these thematic opportunities. This is just our first step in our effort to build out a comprehensive suite of sustainable products to meet investors’ ESG investment needs.”
Frank TSUI, Managing Director and Head of ESG Investment at Value Partners Group, said, "The launch of the Fund marks a major milestone of Value Partner’ ESG franchise to leverage our robust proprietary ESG rating system to enhance and promote ESG practices in the region. Our proprietary rating has achieved 100% portfolio coverage on listed securities, and the expansion into the food and nutrition universe should help us create more impact on companies in the space. The combination of rising focus on ESG-related issues in the food value chain and the increasing demand for food upgrade leads to many unique and exciting investment opportunities that the Fund aims to capture. "
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