Posted inSingapore

JP Morgan launches two funds in Singapore

The products focus on sustainability and healthcare and represent additions to the firm’s increased offerings in the Lion City.
Singapore skyline

The Climate Change Solutions Fund invests in companies which are developing and offering products and services to address climate change.

“By reflecting the carbon transition in portfolios now, we believe investors will be better placed in the future to manage risks, capture opportunities and contribute to a carbon-neutral world while generating financial returns,” said Sherene Ban, CEO of Singapore and Southeast Asia, JPMAM.

The $87.6m fund, which was incepted in December last year, invests in five key investment themes:

First, “renewables and electrification” includes companies that are developing clean energy such as wind, solar, or hydro across the full production chain, and enabling electrification across the economy. Second, companies that are investing in “sustainable forms of transportation” across automobiles, trains, and planes.

The third theme, “sustainable food and water”, is made up of companies engaged in less carbon-intense forms of agriculture, sustainable food, or clean water. Fourth, is “recycling and re-use”, which comprises firms developing technologies to reduce waste, including equipment and materials recycling.

Finally, “sustainable construction” covers companies developing less carbon-intense forms of construction, including energy efficient buildings.

The construction of the Climate Change Solutions Fund’s portfolio combines both artificial and human intelligence by using JPMAM’s proprietary natural language processing tool, ThemeBot, to screen nearly 13,000 stocks globally, rapidly analysing tens of millions of data sources, according to the asset manager.

JPMAM’s 90-people research analyst team will then assess the fundamental investment case for each of the stocks identified by ThemeBot to help construct the portfolio.

The fund is managed by Francesco Conte, Yazann Romahi, and Sara Bellenda, and has a management fee charge of 1% per annum.

This fund is the latest addition to JPMAM’s core suite of dedicated sustainable funds in Singapore, including the Global Income Sustainable Fund, the Emerging Markets Sustainable Equity Fund, and the Global Bond Opportunities Sustainable Fund.

Global Healthcare Fund

The second fund newly introduced in Singapore is the Global Healthcare Fund, which invests primarily in pharmaceutical, biotechnology, healthcare services, medical technology and life sciences companies globally.

The $4.74bn fund was initially incepted in 2009 in other regions, and is managed by Anne Marden, Mattew Cohen, and Laurence McGrath.

According to the fund factsheet, the global healthcare fund allocates 30.8% of its assets to the pharmaceutical sector, 25.4% in the biotechnology sector, 22.8% in the medtech sector, and 19.1% in healthcare services, as of the end of January.

Almost 78% of the fund’s AUM is invested in companies in North America, followed by 14.2% in Europe and Middle East ex UK, and 3.6% in the UK.

The fund posted a cumulative return of 35.41% over the last three years, compared with the sector return of 29.13%, according to FE fundinfo.

The three-year cumulative volatility of the fund was 16.4%, and the management fee of the fund is 1.5% per annum.

JPMAM Global Healthcare Fund vs sector average

FE Fundinfo. Three-year cumulative returns in US dollars

Part of the Mark Allen Group.