Matthews Asia has launched its first Asia fund under Article 9 of EU sustainable investment regulations.
The Asia Sustainable Future Fund complies with the Sustainable Finance Disclosures Regulation (SFDR) and will invest in companies that contribute to a sustainable future in Asia and which are addressing global environmental and social challenges.
The Asia Sustainable fund will follow a similar investment process to the Matthews Asia ESG fund, the firm said, and the portfolio manager Vivek Tanneeru will lead the fund with support from analyst and head of ESG Kathlyn Collins.
Tanneeru commented: “Asia is an extraordinarily diverse region and offers a deep universe of sustainable investment opportunities across frontier, emerging and developed markets. However, ESG research and rating providers have yet to adequately cover this universe, particularly when it comes to small and mid-cap companies and what is covered often fails to reflect local intricacies and context.”
He explained the fund would “engage with companies in order to encourage sustainable practices that will help shape the world of tomorrow on topics such as climate risk disclosure, health and safety standards, the level of independent directors on boards, and gender diversity on boards”.
In the same announcement, Matthews Asia said that five of its existing Ucits funds have been categorised as Article 8 under SFDR regulations.
These include Matthews Asia’s recently launched China A-Shares fund as well as the Matthews China fund, the Matthews Japan fund, the Matthews Pacific Tiger fund and the Matthews Asia ex Japan Dividend fund.
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