Amundi has extended the Amundi Funds ESG Improvers range with the addition of two fixed income strategies – global credit and global high yield.
The actively managed ESG Improvers range was launched in 2020 and is available to institutional and retail investors seeking to capture ESG-related growth potential at an early stage.
The Amundi Funds Global Corporate ESG Improvers Bond seeks to outperform the ICE Bank of America Global Large Cap Corporate Index (USD Hedged), while the Amundi Funds Pioneer Global High Yield ESG Improvers Bond, seeks to outperform the ICE Bank of America Global High Yield Index (USD Hedged).
As with the equity asset class, the investment teams use a dynamic forward-looking approach to identify bond issuers with promising ESG trajectories through a strategy based on three principles:
• Exclude issuers that are not aligned with Amundi’s ESG framework;
• Select issuers that are fundamentally attractive and that are showing or expected to show real and material progress on ESG. These companies are identified through a fundamental bottom up investment process which integrates Amundi’s proprietary ESG methodology;
• Actively engage with company management throughout the investment process to understand and positively impact the company’s financial and ESG credentials as a whole, and build a portfolio of high conviction holdings.
The range will enable investors to apply their portfolio asset allocation from among the ‘ESG champions of tomorrow’.
As a pioneer in responsible investing, Amundi manages over EUR798 billion in responsible investment assets with over 10,000 issuers rated with respect to ESG criteria. Amundi’s recognised ESG analysis process will be fully integrated into the investment approach of the Fund.
Benefiting from the proven experience of Amundi Research and Portfolio Management teams, the strategy of Amundi Funds ESG Improvers combines fundamental and ESG analysis to fully contextualise any potential investment.
Vincent Mortier, Deputy CIO at Amundi, says: “With the addition of the global corporate bond and global high yield strategies, investors can further benefit from this innovative strategy in fixed income, which has already been successfully applied to the equity asset class.”
