Manager brings three decades of expertise for a more fundamental, bottom-up approach to ESG
PenderFund Capital Management has expanded its fund offering with a new impact strategy focused on emerging markets.
Designed to provide investors with long-term capital growth, the Pender Emerging Markets Impact Fund will focus on companies with operations in developing markets, high-quality business concepts, and the potential for positive and long-term profit growth. It will also be strongly aligned with and partially invested in impact-type holdings that address environmental, social, and governance (ESG) challenges.
Patricia Perez-Coutts, who has over 30 years of experience managing emerging market equities, is the fund's manager. She is one of only a few global emerging market portfolio managers who uses a fundamental, bottom-up approach based on an Economic Value-Added framework with ESG impacts.
“The fund upholds Pender's investment philosophy of investing in solid companies with the aim of providing significant, risk-adjusted returns in excess of their cost of capital, in this case, from emerging markets,” Perez-Coutts said. “And to make such investments more sustainable and rewarding, the fund aims to complement its mix with impact-type investments, thus providing social and environmental, as well as financial returns.”
Joining Perez-Coutts on the team are Aman Budhwar, who brings over 20 years of global investing experience, and Phil Stafford, who has nearly 40 years of experience trading in emerging markets. Over many years of working together, they've refined their investment strategy and will continue to expand their experience and competence in emerging markets investing.
“The fund upholds Pender's investment philosophy of investing in solid companies with the aim of providing significant, risk-adjusted returns in excess of their cost of capital, in this case, from emerging markets,” said Perez-Coutts. “And to make such investments more sustainable and rewarding, the fund aims to complement its mix with impact-type investments, thus providing social and environmental, as well as financial returns.”
While the fund's purpose is to produce returns from developing market companies' economic growth and profitability, its mandate holds that such growth cannot come at the price of the environment or society.
Perez-Coutts is incorporating an environmental, social, and governance (ESG) impact component, which will help investors make more money. She will examine companies that could be possible Fund targets in a new light, paying special attention to their impact on both the business model and long-term returns.
“We are excited to be able to bring the Pender Emerging Markets Impact Fund to clients,” Felix Narhi, Pender’s CIO, said. “Patricia is closely aligned to Pender's philosophy in having a fundamental, due diligence process, and we are delighted that her proven team have joined Pender to launch this new Fund.”
“These emerging markets are less efficient than more established markets which makes the potential opportunity set particularly appealing. In addition, it is a good time to be diversifying into emerging markets, given today's unusually attractive valuations relative to most developed markets,” he added.
Narhi said that they are also enthusiastic about the fund's emphasis on impact investing as it pertains to environmental and social issues, which they believe is especially relevant in emerging markets.
