Explaining and Exploring Sustainable Investment - Flipbook - Page 14
Sustainable Investment at Liontrust
People
• Experienced team: 17-strong Liontrust Sustainable Investment
team, plus a Governance and Stewardship team. The team
comprises experienced investors and younger talent who have
joined more recently with a total of more than 200 years of
combined investment experience.
• Long-track record: Team has run Sustainable funds since
February 2001 across equities, bonds and multi-asset investing.
• Pioneers: Key members of the team were among the pioneers
of sustainable investing, being founder members of the PRI
(Principles for Responsible Investment) and leading on issues
that are now central to mainstream investing such as not owning
companies exposed to diesel engines, coal and oil (in 2001)
and moving to exclude natural gas (from 2014).
• Advisory committee: The managers consult an external Advisory
Committee, which comprises experts in sustainability. The
Committee’s role is to continually assess and challenge the team
and offer guidance on evolving issues within sustainability.
Investment process
• Distinct, rigorous and repeatable process: The process seeks
to generate strong returns from investing in companies aiming to
deliver profits through positive social and environmental impacts.
The managers look at the world through the prism of three mega
trends – Better resource efficiency (cleaner), Improved health
(healthier) and Greater safety and resilience (safer) – and then
20 themes within these.
• Selecting stocks: The managers identify well-run companies
whose products and operations benefit from these transformative
changes and that are helping to make the world cleaner, healthier
and safer. Further analysis hones this list down to companies that
exhibit superior ESG management, will deliver persistently high
returns on equity and are attractively valued on a five-year view.
• Integrating ESG: Each manager is an analyst and is responsible
for conducting research on a given sustainability theme and the
sustainability analysis of potential investments. As each manager
is also responsible for the business fundamentals and valuation
analysis, we believe it derives an information advantage that
would be lost if these roles were separate.
• Engagement: This is an integral part of how the managers invest.
Engaging on key ESG issues gives the managers greater insight,
helps to identify leading companies and is used as a lever to
encourage better business practices.
14 - Liontrust: Explaining and exploring sustainable investment
