Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) has launched an emerging markets equity Ucits focused on environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors.
The Emerging Markets Equity ESG fund will be long-only and will incorporate ESG criteria as part of a fundamental, bottom-up financial analysis.
GSAM head of fundamental equity client portfolio management in Emea, Luke Barrs, said his team would leverage proprietary research and insight on companies’ ESG practices and would engage directly with management on areas of material risk.
“These ESG considerations go hand-in-hand with our proven investment philosophy and alpha-generating capabilities,” he said.
“Strong performance on ESG can often indicate that a company is well managed and takes a holistic approach to risk – qualities that indicate strong fundamental performance, not just the ability to tick boxes on ESG scorecards.”
According the fund’s factsheet, its largest country weight is China (35.3%), followed by South Korea (14.1%), India (12.5%), Taiwan (8.2%), and Brazil (5.5%).
Its largest sector allocation is towards information technology (35.8%), financials (26.3%), consumer discretionary (12.4%), consumer staples (4.1%), and materials (3.2%).
The fund is a sub-fund of the Ucits Luxembourg-domiciled Glodman Sachs Funds Sicav.
