Summary
This Sub-Fund aims to take advantage of the specific risk/return profile of convertible bonds within a sustainable framework, using a fundamental, bottom-up investment process and a global allocation across major markets (US, Europe and Asia primarily).
It promotes environmental (E) or social (S) characteristics but does not have as its objective sustainable investment. However, it will have a minimum proportion of 10% of sustainable investments.
The E and S characteristics promoted are:
· a higher average ESG score than the Refinitiv Global Hedged Convertible Bond (EUR) index.
· a lower weighted average carbon intensity than its index
· the exclusion of companies in breach of UN Global Compact.
The Refinitiv Global Hedged Convertible Bond (EUR) index is a standard reference representing the Sub-Fund’s universe but is not aligned with the environmental and social characteristics promoted by this Sub-Fund.
The integration of ESG considerations is done at 3 levels:
· Negative screening: exclusion of harmful activities (revenue threshold may apply) and norm-based screening.
· ESG inclusion approach (positive screening), based on internal qualitative ESG assessment of issuers and underlying equities covering four pillars: I) climate risk, II) environmental strategy, III) social capital and IV) governance.
· Portfolio construction: allocation is conviction-driven, with larger weight allocated to companies offering both sound financials and higher extra-financial standards, according to the Investment Manager’s analysis.
The Investment Manager takes the quality of governance into consideration in its assessment, including accounting practices and the quality of the financial data disclosed, the composition of the board of directors, the independence of the chairman and the board of directors, the shareholding structure, dispersed ownership of shares, as well as remuneration policies.
The Investment Manager takes into consideration and seeks to minimize the following potential principal adverse impacts of its investments: 1) GHG Intensity of Investee Companies, 2) Violations of UN Global Compact principles and Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, 3) Board Gender Diversity and 4) Exposure to Controversial Weapons.
The application of defined ESG exclusion criteria, combined with sustainability assessment of companies, leads to an exclusion rate of at minimum 20% from the eligible investment universe post financial analysis.
At all times, a minimum of 90% of the Sub-Fund’s net assets is invested in companies covered by internal or external ESG research.
The binding criteria used to attain each of the environmental and/or social characteristics promoted by the Sub-Fund are integrated in control systems, to ensure pre- and post‑trade checks. Compliance is monitored by the Risk department on an ongoing basis.
The Investment Manager may use data reported directly by issuers or sourced from third-party data providers such as MSCI ESG Research or Sustainalytics. The service and data quality provided by third-party ESG data providers are reviewed regularly.
Depending on the metric considered, some data may be estimated by data providers. Although the Investment Manager applies a thorough selection process of third-party providers, their processes and proprietary ESG methodology may be flawed. As a result, there is a risk of incorrectly assessing an issuer, resulting in an inappropriate capture of ESG risks and potential incorrect inclusion or exclusion in the product. This is expected to have limited impact on the overall environmental and/or social characteristics promoted by the product.
The investment due diligence process ensures that the investment decisions comply with the objectives and the investment strategy of the Sub-Fund. The consideration of sustainability-related risks is integrated into the investment decision-making process to ensure better-informed investment decisions as well as awareness of the risk exposure. The first level of due diligence is conducted by the Investment Manager, while the second level is conducted by the Risk department.
Engagement with investee companies may occur. It can be conducted collaboratively as well as, on an ad-hoc basis, directly by the investment team.
No reference benchmark has been designated for the purpose of attaining the environmental or social characteristics promoted by this Sub-Fund.
For more information, please see the fund’s Sustainability-related disclosures.
