Spanish insurance company Mapfre has launched a Luxembourg fund based on responsible investment principles as part of a plan to expand its asset management business.
Managed by Mapfre AM, the insurer’s asset management arm, the Mapfre Good Governance Fund is offered in a Luxembourg Sicav structure.
The firm intends to distribute the fund in Europe and in Latin America where the insurer is a general insurance player.
“Extensive academic research” into environmental, social and governance investing showed that governance was the most notable contributor to performance, though selecting companies that are able to deliver sustained earnings over the long term was also important, Mapfre AM said.
Research that the firm commissioned was carried out by academics from Cranfield business school in the UK and Siena University in Italy.
Fund managers José Antonio Méndez and Manuel Rodríguez focus mainly on the ownership of businesses and their accounting practices rather than “over-emphasising compositions of board and remuneration strategies”.
Jose Luis Jimenez, chief executive officer, said: “The Good Governance Fund is one of the first tangible steps that we as asset managers have taken to support our wider business in its aims and objectives to make a significant contribution to the well-being of society.”
Mapfre AM has about €5.3 billion of assets under management (AUM) in European equity and fixed income strategies.
Its parent company is a general insurer with 34 million clients in Spain and Latin America, and has over €58.8 billion of AUM.
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