ESG

Amundi extends the ESG Improvers fund range with two fixed income fund strategies

London, UK, August 26, 2021 by Amundi

Amundi, the largest European asset manager, has extended the Amundi Funds ESG Improvers range with 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.

Amundi has extended the ESG Improvers family of funds to include two fixed income investment fund strategies^[1]:

• Amundi Funds Global Corporate ESG Improvers Bond, which seeks to outperform the ICE Bank of America Global Large Cap Corporate Index (USD Hedged)
• Amundi Funds Pioneer Global High Yield ESG Improvers Bond, which seeks to outperform the ICE Bank of America Global High Yield Index (USD Hedged) ^[2]

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.

Responsible investment at the heart of the Fund’s approach

As a pioneer in responsible investing, Amundi manages over €798bn in responsible investment assets with over 10,000 issuers rated with respect to ESG criteria^[3]. 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, commented: “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.”

These sub-funds are available within the Amundi Funds SICAV and are currently registered in the following countries:

• Global Corporate ESG Improvers Bond: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, the UK
• Pioneer Global High Yield ESG Improvers Bond: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Switzerland, the UK

Footnotes

1. For more information on the investment policy and the risks please refer to the Prospectus and the Key Investor Information Document (KIID).
2. The Sub-Fund does not aim to replicate the BoA Global High Yield USD Hedged Index and may therefore significantly deviate from it.
3. Source: Amundi at 30 June 2021