The fund seeks capital appreciation in the long term by investing in small-and mid-size companies in the United States.
The fundamental, bottom-up investment process focuses on sustainable businesses and the company's ESG performance. In addition, meeting with company management is a key part of the research process.
The research team then focuses on companies on the basis of quality and price. Next, the team assigns each company a proprietary overall and also an ESG-quality rating ranging from 1 to 5 (1 indicating leaders and 5 indicating laggards).
The team prefers companies rated 3 or better on both the overall and ESG-quality rating. In the overall quality sleeve, the manager evaluates a company’s growth prospects and balance sheet strength.
In the ESG-quality sleeve, the manager evaluates the company’s ownership structures, governance and management quality as well as potential environmental and social risks.
The fund will not invest in companies that have failed to uphold one or more principles of the UN Global Compact, an industry tie to controversial weapons; or a revenue contribution of 10% or more from tobacco manufacturers; or from the extraction of unconventional oil and gas.