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• With a 25-year track record in managing emerging markets strategies, the new Comgest Growth Emerging Markets Plus fund (“Plus fund”) is a direct response to client demand for portfolios applying formal ethical exclusions, notably a zero-tolerance approach to fossil fuel extraction, reserves and power generation. 

Comgest, the international equities asset management group focused on long-term quality growth with robust ESG integration, has launched a new emerging markets fund with investor seed capital of $250m. The fund was seeded in January 2020 by four UK investors, including the National Trust, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Guardian Media Group and the NESTA Trust, and is open to external investors.  

Comgest’s existing GEM flagship strategy has no or low direct fossil fuel exposure (as a natural result of the team’s quality-growth focused style). However, the “Plus” fund will adopt formal exclusions regarding fossil fuel exposure and it will adhere to the requirements of several leading European ESG/ SRI labels, including Germany’s FNG and Belgium’s Towards Sustainability (Febelfin). Application of the labels will necessarily exclude companies involved in areas such as nuclear energy or uranium mining (5% revenue threshold), in which the flagship fund also has no current investments. 

Comgest aims to deliver outperformance to investors by creating a concentrated portfolio of high quality long-term growth companies and ensuring a high level of engagement on ESG issues. The firm’s signature style and integration of ESG throughout the investment process has meant that all portfolios have had no or very low exposure to areas such as coal, oil and gas, construction and materials. This has led to substantially lower environmental and carbon footprints of most of the firm’s portfolios compared to their comparative market indices.

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