Wealth management firm Cazenove Capital, part of the Schroders Group, announced today that it has been selected by three UK-based charities to manage a multi-asset sustainable investment fund. The charities –  Friends Provident Foundation, the Joffe Charitable Trust, and the Blagrave Trust – will invest £33.5 million in the new Cazenove Sustainable Growth Fund, set to launch later this year.

Cazenove competed for the mandate in an ESG ‘investing olympics’ set up by the charities, which served as an open tender to asset managers to impress the charities on their environmental and social impact. Additionally, the charities stated that managers would be judged by their high standards of ESG integration covering exclusion, engagement and its escalation, voting record, and in-house expertise, plus impact reporting.

Kate Rogers, Co-Head of Charities, Cazenove Capital, commented:

“We are thrilled to be selected by these leading purpose-led investors. Together we are committed to investing for a better future. The ESG ‘investing olympics’ set an amazing example of collaboration and transparency, breaking new ground in sustainable investing. We look forward to continuing in this spirit, working with the charities to use their investments for good and developing best practice in impact investing.

“Our innovative multi-asset fund, launching in December, has a clear intention to generate both a competitive financial return and a positive impact on people and the planet. Available to charities and individual investors, the Cazenove Sustainable Growth Fund will have a carbon footprint of less than half of the global equity index and will generate five times the social impact.”

In all, the competition attracted 60 proposals from a wide range of managers, with five finalists chosen to present to an audience of mission-led investors, including charities and religious organisations, at the Royal Institution in London in March 2020.

Cazenove stated that the new fund will be designed to enable investors to maximise the positive impact of their wealth on people and the planet, while simultaneously targeting attractive financial returns. The Cazenove Sustainable Growth Fund will invest across a broad range of assets such as sustainable business, development, renewable energy and social housing.

Colin Baines, Investment Engagement Manager at Friends Provident Foundation, said:

“We are delighted to announce Cazenove Capital as the winner of the ESG ‘investing olympics’ and look forward to becoming the cornerstone investors in a new best in class multi-asset class ESG fund. Our trustees were torn between choosing an ‘evolving incumbent’ or a ‘new disruptor’ and decided on the former. We were impressed with Cazenove Capital’s proposal, which meets our new, challenging, investment policies, was well received by attendees in March, and offers the potential to achieve scale and influence the wider market.

“In the spirit of the ESG olympics, which set out to bring investment management out of the shadows and send a clear market signal for higher ESG standards, we will work with Cazenove Capital to continually raise market standards and best practice, and will regularly report on our experience.”