Principal Asset Management has launched its new Principal Global Sustainable Growth Fund as the investment arm seek to divest its portfolio to include sustainable and responsible solutions. The new fund will allow investors in the country to invest in an Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (“ESG”)-focused capital growth fund.
According to Munirah Khairuddin, CEO of Principal Asset Management, the launch of Principal Global Sustainable Growth Fund reflects the groups commitment to respond to the growing consciousness around sustainability issues in Malaysia.
“In today’s fast-evolving world, we have been seeing increased interest in ESG funds that deliver positive impact whilst generating returns. This is reflected in the exponential growth in ESG fund assets in recent years. This is hardly surprising, given growing evidence that aligning investments with ESG values can translate to consistent outperformance over the medium to long term,” she added.
As a qualified sustainable and responsible investment fund, the Fund’s holdings, including the selection, retention, and the realisation of its investments, are subject to the ESG integration methodology that is in accordance with the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (“UN PRI”). Principal Financial Group through Principal Global Investors (PGI) became a signatory to UN PRI since December 2010. In South-East Asia, Principal Asset Management in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and Principal Islamic Asset Management became signatories since December 2019 under Principal Asset Management (SEA).
CIMB Bank Berhad and CIMB Islamic Bank Berhad (“CIMB” or “the Bank”) has been appointed as the exclusive bank distributor for the Global Sustainable Growth Fund for a period of 3 months. CIMB customers looking to invest in the Fund, or other unit trust funds offered via CIMB, can do so by visiting any of the Bank’s branches.
Samir Gupta, CEO, Group Consumer Banking of CIMB Group commented “This Fund will cater to the growing demand in ESG-compliant investments by retail investors and enable them to make more impactful and sustainable investment choices through the Fund.”
The Fund feeds into the Schroder International Selection Fund Global Sustainable Growth (“Target Fund”) which is managed by Schroder Investment Management (“Target Manager”). The Target Fund seeks to provide capital growth by investing in shares of companies worldwide that embrace strong Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) values in their businesses, which are in turn better placed to deliver superior growth and stable long-term returns.
Designed with a multi-class structure, the Fund has four share classes; Class AUD-Hedged, Class MYR-Hedged, Class SGD-Hedged, and Class USD, and is priced with an initial offer of AUD 1.0000, MYR 1.0000, SGD 1.0000, USD 1.0000 per unit, respectively.
