News Announcement

WHEB’s new White Paper: “Impact investing in listed equities”

14th October 2021

The popularity of ESG, sustainable and impact investing has been increasing over the last decade or more. But it is the rate of growth, particularly in the impact space, that has risen dramatically in the last few years.

In Europe, impact funds accounted for c.1% of all investment funds, worth approximately €105bn in 2020, as estimated by Morningstar.¹ However, in terms of net fund flows in 2020, the proportion is considerably greater. In 2020 alone, approximately 5% of all European net fund flows were into impact funds, representing c.€21.5bn, according to Morningstar research.²

The result is an increasing number of impact funds being launched, which is causing concerns about a weakening of standards. In the 2020 Annual Impact Investor Survey³, for example, respondents identified ‘impact washing’ as the greatest challenge facing the market. Some commentators have gone further, suggesting that impact investing in listed equities is a contradiction in terms.

We have also seen the beginnings of an ‘ESG backlash’ over the past few months. Former BlackRock Sustainable Investing CIO, Tariq Fancy, published an essay calling ESG a ‘dangerous distraction’ from reality, and the SEC are investigating DWS’s sustainability claims after greenwashing concerns.

With so much noise in the sector, as well as ‘impact washing’, transparency and authenticity have become more important than ever. The differentiation between investment products is also becoming increasingly challenging. Against this backdrop, one solution to mitigate these challenges is providing better clarity over each asset manager’s approach to impact investing.

It is in this context that WHEB is publishing a new White Paper: “Impact investing in listed equities – WHEB’s perspective”.

The philosophy behind WHEB’s Sustainability strategy was created in 2005 with a focus on positive impact enterprises and we have built on our experience since then. But the world has changed dramatically as well as the investment industry. So, we want to clarify our view on what impact investing in listed equities means to us.

The paper explores the usefulness of ‘additionality’ in public markets, the importance of scale if impact investing is to enable positive change at a global level, as well as the significance of ‘intentionality’.

We believe that it is self-evident that all assets and all investors have impact. This impact can be positive or it can be negative, or more often a messy combination of both. The paper builds on the work of others⁴ and sets out the logic and narrative that underpins WHEB’s approach to impact investing and presents a model for how we deliver impact.

To download: “Impact investing in listed equities – WHEB’s perspective”, please click here.

¹ European sustainable investment funds study 2021, Alfi, zeb, Morningstar, 15 June 2021 https://zeb-consulting.com/en-DE/press/european-sustainable-investment-funds-study-2021

² Ibid

³ https://thegiin.org/research/publication/impinv-survey-2020

⁴ We have drawn inspiration in particular from the work on impact investing in listed equities by the Impact Management Project and the Global Impact Investing Network.

Important Notices

Risks include: the price of shares (“Shares”) in FP WHEB Sustainability Impact Fund, WHEB Sustainable Impact Fund or WHEB Environmental Impact Fund may increase or decrease and you may not get back the amount originally invested, for reasons including adverse market and foreign exchange rate movements. Past performance does not predict future returns. The Fund invests in equities and is exposed to price fluctuations in the equity markets, and focuses on investments in mid-sized companies in certain sectors so its performance may not correlate closely with the MSCI World Index (the benchmark). For full risks, please see fund prospectus on www.whebgroup.com

General

This information, its contents and any related communication (altogether, the “Information”) is issued by WHEB Asset Management LLP (“WHEB Asset Management”). It is intended for information purposes only and does not constitute or form part of any offer or invitation to buy or sell any security including any shares in the FP WHEB Sustainability Impact Fund or WHEB Sustainable Impact Fund, including in the United States. It should not be relied upon to make an investment decision in relation to Shares in the FP WHEB Sustainability Impact Fund or WHEB Sustainable Impact Fund or otherwise; any such investment decision should be made only on the basis of the Fund scheme documents and appropriate professional advice. This Information does not constitute advice of any kind, investment research or a research recommendation, is in summary form and is subject to change without notice. The performance shown does not take account of any commissions and costs charged when subscribing to and redeeming shares. WHEB Asset Management has exercised reasonable care in preparing this Information including using reliable sources, however, makes no representation or warranty relating to its accuracy, reliability or completeness or whether any future event may or may not occur. This Information is only made available to recipients who may lawfully receive it in accordance with applicable laws, regulations and rules and binding guidance of regulators. WHEB Asset Management LLP is registered in England and Wales with number OC 341489 and has its registered office at 7 Cavendish Square, London, W1G 0PE. WHEB Asset Management LLP is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority with Firm Reference Number 496413.

FP WHEB Sustainability Impact Fund

FundRock Partners Limited (formerly Fund Partners Limited) is the Authorised Corporate Director of the Fund and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority with Firm Reference Number 469278 and has its registered office at 6th Floor Bastion House, 140 London Wall, London, EC2Y 5DN. The state of the origin of the Fund is England and Wales. The Representative in Switzerland is ACOLIN Fund Services AG, Leutschenbachstrasse 50, CH-8050 Zurich, whilst the Paying Agent is NPB Neue Privat Bank AG, Limmatquai 1/am Bellevue, P.O. Box, 8024 Zurich . The relevant documents such as the prospectus, the key investor information document (KIIDs), the Articles of Association as well as the annual and semi-annual reports may be obtained free of charge from the Representative in Switzerland.

WHEB Sustainable Impact Fund

The Manager of the Fund is FundRock Management Company S.A., authorised and regulated by the Luxembourg regulator to act as UCITS management company and has its registered office at 33, rue de Gasperich, L-5826 Hesperange, Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg. The Representative in Switzerland is ACOLIN Fund Services AG, Leutschenbachstrasse 50, CH-8050 Zurich, whilst the Paying Agent is NPB Neue Privat Bank AG, Limmatquai 1/am Bellevue, P.O. Box, 8024 Zurich. The relevant documents such as the prospectus, the key investor information document (KIIDs), the Articles of Association as well as the annual and semi-annual reports may be obtained free of charge from the representative in Switzerland. The state of the origin of the Fund is Ireland. The Fund is registered for distribution to professional investors in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Singapore, Sweden and the United Kingdom, and is registered for offering to retail investors in Switzerland, Denmark and the Netherlands. The Fund is also available for professional investors in Belgium and Hong Kong. It is not available to investors domiciled in the United States.

WHEB Environmental Impact Fund

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