Aegon Asset Management has announced the launch of the Aegon Global Sustainable Sovereign Bond strategy offered by Aegon AM NL, which will invest in financially strong countries that demonstrate significant progress towards the sustainability targets defined by the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Managed by four government bond specialists with the support of Aegon AM’s 17-strong Global Responsible Investment team, the strategy will invest in investment grade government bonds (BBB- and higher), focusing on countries leading or improving in sustainability metrics.
The strategy officially launches at COP26, the United Nations Climate Change conference, to be held in Glasgow in Scotland from October 31 to November 12 2021. The strategy will invest globally in an effort to maximise diversification, with portfolio allocation typically 70-90% to developed markets and 10-30% to emerging markets. All investments will be hard currency bonds, with returns hedged to the euro.
Benchmarked against the ICE BofA Global Government Index, the strategy will be run by dedicated co-managers Irina Kurochkina and Jesus Martinez with strategic support from Sarvjeev Sidhu and Hendrik Tuch – who will actively manage it with a low turnover approach.
Commenting on the Strategy launch, Brunno Maradei, head of responsible investing at Aegon Asset Management: “Incorporating sustainability alignment into a sovereign bond investment strategy can help mitigate risk, contribute to sustainable growth and pursue competitive long-term performance. Leveraging our proprietary research methodology and multi-decade expertise as active owners of sovereign debt, we are pleased to launch a fixed income strategy that not only has a strong focus on sustainability, but a commitment to delivering attractive returns.”
