Robeco has partnered with UOB Asset Management in Thailand to offer the Robeco Sustainable Global Stars Equities strategy to retail investors in the country, according to a statement from Robeco.
The strategy is accessible via a feeder fund managed by UOB AM Thailand, the United Equity Sustainable Global Fund. The feeder fund’s IPO started on 17 August and will end today, according to UOB AM’s website.
UOB Asset Management in Thailand is the eighth largest fund manager in the country, managing around THB 129bn ($4.1bn) in assets, according to data from Morningstar Direct.
The Robeco strategy, which is led by Jan Keuppens, integrates ESG factors into its investment process and has a focus on quality companies, according to the statement. It invests in global companies with strong free cash flow and high returns on invested capital. The portfolio is concentrated, holding only 25-40 stocks.
The Robeco Sustainable Global Stars Equities Fund
For its ESG integration process, the fund makes use of sustainability performance rankings to focus its analysis on companies that have demonstrated better sustainability performance compared to their peers, according to its fund factsheet. After that, it analyses the impact of financially material factors to a company’s competitive position and value drivers.
“If ESG risks and opportunities are significant, the ESG analysis could impact a stock’s fair value and the portfolio allocation decision,” it said.
Separately, Robeco also partnered with UOB Asset Management in Singapore to launch the RobecoSAM SDG Credit Income strategy in March to Singapore retail investors through the United Sustainable Credit Income Fund, the statement added.
Few ESG funds
Unlike its more developed peers in Asia, such as Hong Kong and Singapore, Thailand’s fund industry has not yet been bombarded with ESG-focused offerings. According to data from Morningstar Direct, there are only seven “ESG”- or “sustainable”-labelled funds in the Thai market.
Of those seven, only two invest in offshore markets, which include the Tisco Global Sustainable Equity Fund and the Thanachart Global Sustainable Equity Fund.
The Tisco Global Sustainable Equity Fund is a fund-of-funds product launched in 2018, according to its fund factsheet. Nearly 70% of its assets are invested in the UBS Global Sustainable Equity Fund and around 25% in Blackrock’s BSF Impact World Equity Fund.
Meanwhile, the Thanachart Global Sustainable Equity Fund is a feeder fund that invests into the Axa WF Global Factors – Sustainable Equity Fund, according to the firm’s website.
As of the end of July, the Tisco fund had THB 90m in assets, while the Thanachart fund’s AUM was THB 877m, according to data from Morningstar Direct.
