13 June 2022
CCLA Investment Management, responsible investment pioneer and the UK’s largest charity investment manager (Charity Finance Survey 2021), has launched the CCLA Better World Global Equity Fund. The UK-domiciled UCITS fund launched with £230 million of seed capital and brings CCLA’s investment expertise, previously exclusive to charities, local authorities and the Church of England, to UK retail investors for the first time.
Sustainability has been at the centre of CCLA’s investment process for many years. CCLA launched Aiming for A, a shareholder advocacy campaign, in 2012 and in 2019 established Find It Fix It Prevent It, an investor collaboration supported by £7 trillion of assets, aimed at combatting modern slavery in companies’ supply chains. Most recently CCLA launched its Corporate Mental Health Benchmark which assesses how the UK’s largest listed employers approach workplace mental health.
Managing the new fund are James Ayre and Charlotte Ryland, CCLA’s Co-Heads of Investments who manage over £6 billion in equities (as at March 2022) and who have managed CCLA’s global equity strategy for charity investors since 2007 and 2016 respectively.
The CCLA Better World Global Equity Fund aims to provide a total return over the long-term and invests its assets in quality global companies with strong long-term business models, positive free cash flow generation and that are well-positioned to benefit from secular trends.
The fund mirrors CCLA’s successful global equity strategy offered to its 30,000 charity clients since 2007 and which has delivered excellent returns over the past five years. Please note past performance is not a guide to future performance. The fund's comparator benchmark is the MSCI World Index.
While the fund is available for immediate investment by wealth managers, CCLA is working to arrange distribution through several UK direct-to-consumer investment platforms in addition to all the UK intermediary platforms.
Mr Jasper Berens, Head of Client Relationships and Distribution, said:
I am thrilled to be bringing the success enjoyed by CCLA’s not-for-profit clients to the wider wealth, intermediary and retail market. This offering will appeal to those investors seeking good performance combined with a genuine and authentic approach to ESG and sustainable investing. CCLA is different in that our approach to sustainability is applied across everything we do and not just at an individual fund level, this allows us to have a greater positive impact. It’s what we call Good Investment.
The fund launched in response to strong demand for the kind of authentic ESG investment approach that CCLA provides across all of its funds and following requests from certain trustees of CCLA’s charity clients wanting to invest their personal money in CCLA’s strategies. The fund is actively managed in accordance with CCLA’s approach to investing for a better world. This includes prioritising ongoing engagement with investee companies to improve operations and drive change towards greater sustainability in the real-world economy, assessing companies’ environmental, social and governance criteria to ensure the fund invests in companies with sustainable business models and investing in a way that CCLA believes is aligned with the values of its clients.
As a founding member of the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative, CCLA aims to achieve net-zero emissions portfolios no later than 2040 and already has divested from direct holdings in oil and gas extraction companies as it believes they face significant risks during the inevitable energy transition. The Better World Global Equity Fund is managed in line with CCLA’s approach to managing climate change.
CCLA has a long track-record of instigating positive change for a better world. In addition to its pioneering work on climate, modern slavery and mental health, CCLA has also successfully engaged with companies in its investment portfolio around social issues including paying a living wage, addressing diversity and appropriate executive pay.
Mr Peter Hugh Smith, CCLA’s Chief Executive, said:
For more than 60 years, CCLA has brought our Good Investment philosophy to the not-for-profit sector. This means we use our voice to engage with companies and government policy makers on issues that matter. We instigate conversations that result in real progress on the world’s most pressing challenges, from climate change to human rights and good governance. And we bring the investment industry along with us as the power of collaboration is huge.
Majority owned by our funds, CCLA’s interests are aligned with those of our clients, clients that have relied on us for decades to generate a financial return to enable their good work and to do so in a way that is aligned with their community-oriented values. Our success has made us the largest charity manager in the UK [Charity Finance Survey 2021]. We are therefore excited to be bringing our Good Investment approach to individuals so that together, we can invest to create a better world for both today and the next generation.
Press contacts
Miranda Barham: miranda@mirandabarham.com or +44 (0)7899 030304
Tess Harris: tess@tessharrisconsulting.com or +44 (0)7841 577820