Candriam, a global multi-asset manager specialising in sustainable and responsible investing, has announced the launch of the Candriam Equities L ESG Market Neutral Fund.
This actively managed fund aims to blend rigorous financial and ESG analysis within a systematic market-neutral framework, providing investors with returns that are both sustainably aligned and diversified while remaining uncorrelated with traditional market movements.
Targeted at investors seeking a quantitative investment approach that integrates ESG criteria, the fund’s philosophy is based on the premise that companies with strong financial health and robust ESG practices are likely to create long-term value. Conversely, companies with weak financials and poor ESG standards are expected to diminish in value.
The fund identifies long and short-term investment opportunities by simultaneously evaluating financial and ESG criteria, creating a diversified market-neutral portfolio that balances these opportunities with risk and ESG objectives.
Starting with a selection of the most liquid stocks from the international developed markets, Candriam’s ESG team applies its proprietary ESG model to assess each company’s sustainability credentials. The Quantitative Equity Team then uses its own framework to evaluate and score the financial attractiveness of each company, considering factors such as value, quality, growth, market sentiment, and volatility.
The fund employs a strategy of taking long positions in companies recognised as sustainability leaders with strong financials and solid ESG records while shorting companies identified as less sustainable with weaker financial fundamentals and ESG criteria. This approach aims to generate stable, positive returns that are decoupled from traditional market performance.
Managed within Candriam’s Alternative Investment platform, the fund is overseen by Bart Goosens, Global Head of Quantitative Equity and Deputy Global Head of Alternative Investments, and Dave Benichou, Deputy Head of Quantitative Equity. The portfolio management team collaborates closely with Candriam’s dedicated ESG Investment and Research Team, led by Wim Van Hyfte, Global Head of ESG Investments & Research, who supervises the ESG analysis integral to the investment process.
The fund will be available for distribution in Luxembourg, Belgium, France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the UK, and the Netherlands.
Steeve Brument, global head of alternative investments at Candriam, said, “By combining our differentiated ESG process with the extensive expertise of our Quantitative Equity team, we provide our clients with access to unique solutions that seek to offer an attractive risk-return profile, whilst supporting meaningful social and environmental change. We are confident that the appetite for both alternative strategies and ESG-aligned solutions will continue to grow, and this launch further represents the next step in our efforts to further embed ESG integration within our alternative solutions.”
