The investing firm BlackRock announced today the introduction of its new Sustainable Global Allocation UCITS Fund in Europe, which is intended to be "a core sustainability holding" for investors.
According to BlackRock, the introduction of the new fund is in response to investor demand for an ESG version of the firm's $15 billion BGF Global Allocation Fund, one of the biggest multi-asset portfolios on the EMEA market.
BlackRock's Chief Investment Officer of Global Fixed Income and Leader of the BlackRock Global Allocation Investment Team, Rick Rieder, stated:
"We've introduced the Sustainable Global Allocation Fund in response to client requests for an unrestricted multi-asset strategy that can help investors traverse extended periods of heightened volatility while also allowing them to voice their sustainability preferences."
Rieder stated that the new fund leverages the Global Allocation Fund's guiding principles, as well as BlackRock's unique ESG methodology.
According to BlackRock's proprietary externalities framework, the fund will invest at least 50% of its assets in securities categorised as having positive externalities and avoid securities with negative externalities.
Additional sustainability features include a goal to achieve a lower carbon emissions intensity score for corporate issuers owned within the portfolio than those of the benchmark (60% MSCI All Country World Index / 40% Bloomberg Barclays Global Aggregate Index) and screens to limit exposure to investments in companies associated with fossil fuels, tobacco, controversial weapons, nuclear weapons, civilian weapons, and violators of controversial weapons treaties.
The Fund will be managed by BlackRock's 30+ member Global Allocation Investment Team, directed by Rieder, who has experience handling unconstrained mandates and access to ESG experts throughout the firm to drive the investment approach.
Rieder added:
"The new Fund fits customer demand for a long-term, sustainable investing strategy; additionally, investors may anticipate a similar risk and return profile to our traditional Global Allocation product."
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