Quaero Capital (Quaero) is launching a new ESG-focused US equities fund, the Cullen ESG US Value Fund, which will be managed in partnership with Cullen Capital Management (Cullen).
The fund is a sub-fund of the Quaero Capital Funds (Lux) Luxembourg SICAV, that targets investment in US companies trading at attractive valuations with favourable environmental, social and governance (ESG) characteristics.
The management partnership brings together the Quaero and Cullen’s expertise in value and responsible investing. Overall, the fund will be actively managed by a team of three fund managers with experience in the US equity market and supported by a team of ten analysts. Its portfolio will be concentrated on around 25 to 30 names.
Quaero believes that the new management partnership combines active management with specialist boutique expertise, which will deliver long-term risk-adjusted performance for investor looking at the US market. Cullen, which has $20.9 billion in assets under management, has exclusively overseen value equity portfolios since its creation in 1983, and remains committed to ESG investment principles.
The fund’s investment philosophy is driven by a combination of quantitative and fundamental research for both value and ESG analysis, from the initial screen of the investment universe to the monitoring of the final portfolio. Its commitment to the integration of ESG criteria is intended to lower business risk and enhance its process of identifying quality companies trading at discount valuations.
Jean Keller, chief executive officer of Quaero, emphasised the importance the firm placed on value investing and ESG principles.
He said: “We are both independent and 100 percent employee-owned firms and share a common belief that Value investing and thorough bottom up research will produce consistent and repeatable returns over the long term. This commitment is underpinned by ESG investing principles which combined together will maximize risk-adjusted returns for investors.”
James Cullen, founder and chief executive officer of Cullen added: “Our two companies are alike in our entrepreneurial culture and we share the belief that Value investing can provide the best long-term results. Our consistent and disciplined fundamental approach to value investing overlaps with the ESG principles for sustainable investing.”
