Evans & Partners adds ClearBridge’s value fund to ESG investment mix

Australian asset management firm Evans & Partners has added ClearBridge’s Global Value Improvers Fund, which targets value stocks with proven ESG bona fides, to its sustainable product list.

William Hart, executive director of ESG & sustainable investment at Evans & Partners, welcomed the addition of the fund, which he said supports “a progressive style of sustainable investing and ESG integration”.

Hart noted that the fund embraces the next gen ‘ESG 2.0’ approach, targeting companies that show notable improvements in ESG measures across the entire value chain – either transforming their products and services or enabling other entities to advance ESG objectives.

The fund, as a core objective, seeks out companies rated by ClearBridge as both undervalued and showing improvement on ESG measures, with between 30 to 40 holdings across both developed and emerging markets.

“By adopting this active, forward-looking approach, ClearBridge aims to uncover overlooked opportunities and promote ESG improvements while delivering long-term value for investors,” it said.

The fund targets three categories of ESG improvers: ‘enablers’ (those companies whose products and services facilitate ESG advancements); ‘reformers’ (companies with a clear roadmap to ESG progress, such as energy firms transitioning to renewables); and ‘promoters’ (those businesses directly advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals).

Among its top sector weightings include industrials (25.5%), financials (25.4%) and healthcare (12.4%), with its current top holdings including banking giants Wells Fargo & Co and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argenta, global payments service PayPal, French energy giant Totalenergies, and UK food services group Compass.

Since inception in January 2024, the fund has returned 26.2% to investors, 2.3% above the MSCI World Value (Net) (AUD) benchmark index.

ClearBridge portfolio manager Grace Su said the fund is “focused on companies that we believe are committed to change”.

“We think there’s a lot of opportunity in companies the market doesn’t classify as ESG-friendly, or which have not had their success in incremental ESG achievement recognised.”

The fund uniquely positions itself by targeting value stocks, with Su noting that the current evolution of ESG investing has “tended to overlook value strategies as viable investment choices, with most strategies “philosophically oriented toward ESG leaders”.

ClearBridge Investments, an ESG specialist equity manager and subsidiary of US investment giant Franklin Templeton, manages US$189.6 billion in assets (as at December 31, 2024).