KUALA LUMPUR (July 26): In a bid to make environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing more accessible to the Malaysian public, Nomura Asset Management Malaysia Sdn Bhd is partnering with Sun Life Malaysia Assurance Bhd to offer a new fund to the insurer’s clients.

The locally-domiciled Nomura Global Sustainable Equity Fund, which will feed into Nomura Funds Ireland — Global Sustainable Equity Fund, is available in Malaysia from today for a minimum initial investment of RM1,000 and available for subscription online.

“We have prioritised affordability as anyone can begin their investing journey with this fund regardless of their income level,” Nomura Asset Management Malaysia managing director and country head Nor Rejina Abdul Rahim said at the virtual launch.

The Ireland-domiciled target fund aims to provide investors with long-term capital growth through investments in a relatively concentrated, actively-managed portfolio of shares issued by global companies with high positive impact on society.

These companies are evaluated based on Nomura’s six impact goals, namely: i) mitigation of climate change; ii) mitigation of natural capital depreciation;  iii) elimination of obesity; iv) eradication of communicable diseases; v) forward-looking management of Covid-19; and vi) provision of global access to clean drinking water as well as basic financial services, all of which are aligned to the United Nations’ (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The fund is benchmarked against the MSCI All Country World Index, which represents the performance of large- and mid-cap stocks across 23 developed and 27 emerging markets.

At the group level, Nomura Asset Management has been a signatory to the UN-backed Principles for Responsible Investment since March 2011. Earlier this month, it signed the Investor Agenda, a joint statement by institutional investors to accelerate initiatives on climate change.

Nomura Asset Management Malaysia head of investment Leslie Yap explained that when it comes to ESG, public listed equities that do not achieve high ESG scores will end up having to meet higher cost of capital when it comes to fundraising for growth.

“Therefore, there is a price to pay. There is also volatility in share prices, which is something that companies do not like, therefore companies that are affected by events such as oil spills, labour strikes and fraud — their shareholders suffer.”

Yap explained said the portfolio is currently concentrated, with over 40 positions in it, with developed markets leading the trend in growth of global sustainable investments.

“With this global sustainability strategy [and] product, we hope to deliver a double bottom line of strong investment returns alongside positive social and environmental outcomes,” he said.