Rockefeller Capital Management’s asset management business, Rockefeller Asset Management, is now offering its investment strategies based on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) research to European investors in a UCITS regulated fund structure.
The first UCITS funds, seeded by prominent, long-term European institutional investors, are the Rockefeller Global ESG Equity Fund and the Rockefeller US ESG Equity Fund (Funds). The funds are available to institutional and retail investors, featuring a founders’ share class for larger early-stage investors, and are available for passporting into many European countries.
Rockefeller’s history with sustainability and impact investing dates back to the 1970s when several of the Firm’s patrons contended that investment decisions have environmental, social and financial dimensions. Today, a core differentiator of Rockefeller’s investment approach is its well-established practice of shareholder engagement that seeks to drive long-term value creation across portfolios, while improving ESG standards globally. Over the years, Rockefeller Asset Management’s investment team has partnered with some of Europe’s largest asset owners to co-engage and create positive change in its investment holdings.
“We have long held the view that ESG integration and deep engagement can enhance alpha generation and identify risks and opportunities that traditional fundamental analysis alone may not uncover,” says David Harris, Chief Investment Officer of Rockefeller Asset Management and co-portfolio manager of the Funds. “In response to market demand and a secular shift toward sustainable research as a critical part of investing, Rockefeller will enable European investors to access its strategies through commingled funds offering liquidity and regulatory oversight of the UCITS framework for the first time.”
Rockefeller’s Global and US ESG Equity strategies are actively managed by co-portfolio managers, David Harris and Jimmy Chang, supported by a team of equity and ESG analysts based in the US who have worked together over many years. The Rockefeller Global ESG Equity and Rockefeller US ESG Equity strategies seek to outperform their benchmarks – the MSCI ACWI-Net and Russell 3000, respectively – over a full market cycle defined as three to five years.
