Standard Life Aberdeen has lost a mandate to run a £286 million (€321 million) ethical fund offered by UK wealth manager St James’s Place to a smaller boutique.
FTSE-100-listed St James’s Place has selected London-based Impax Asset Management, which specialises in sustainable investment and has assets under management of £11.8 billion, to manage its newly rebranded Sustainable and Responsible Equity Fund.
According to a statement the fund, to be managed by Kirsteen Morrison and David Winborne of Impax, will invest in companies “set to benefit from the transition to a more sustainable global economy” through Impax’s Global Opportunities Strategy.
Impax chief executive Ian Simm said: “The strategy for the fund will move beyond merely applying a negative ethical screen to taking a positive approach, which is the hallmark of our successful investment style of the past twenty years.
“As demand from clients for more oversight on how their money is invested increases, the potential for the strategy to grow as it becomes St. James’s Place’s core sustainable strategy is obvious.”
The loss of the mandate comes as a further blow to recently-merged Standard Life Aberdeen which has seen outflows of $10 billion (€8.5 billion) so far this year.
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