Jupiter has launched a sustainable bond fund for head of environmental solutions Rhys Petheram (pictured).
The Jupiter Global Ecology Bond Sicav will typically hold 60 to 90 issuers and can invest across the credit spectrum, although its overall average rating is expected to be investment grade.
The global corporate bond fund will invest in companies whose core economic activities contribute to addressing global environmental sustainability challenges.
Classified as an article 9 fund under the EU sustainable finance disclosure regulation (SFDR), Petheram will focus on finding issuers addressing climate change and seeking to restore natural capital and biodiversity.
The Jupiter Global Ecology Bond fund will invest in conventional bonds as well as unlabelled and labelled bonds, including green, sustainability, social, or sustainability-linked/sustainability awareness bonds.
In a statement, Petheram said: “The scale of change required to reverse global warming is creating significant opportunities to support companies which provide products and services critical to achieving sustainability targets, and the growing environmental solutions universe is now setting the pace for policy and regulation.”
Last year, labelled sustainability bond issuance hit $1trn for the first time, he noted.
Jupiter deputy global head of distribution Warren Tonkinson added: “Jupiter was one of the first companies to launch an environmental fund nearly 35 years ago, and the first to launch a green multi-asset thematic fund in 2016. When the first corporate green bonds were issued in 2012, Rhys was one of the first investors at the table, and in the years since he has been instrumental in shaping the green bond universe as we know it today.”
Last week, Jupiter announced it was launching a sustainable version of its Dynamic Bond fund, which will fall under article 8 of the SFDR.
