UBS Launches Ocean Engagement Fund in Collaboration with Rockefeller Asset Management
Zurich, May 29, 2024
UBS Global Wealth Management (GWM) launched the engagement fund in a collaborative approach with Rockefeller Asset Management (Rockefeller). The UBS Rockefeller Ocean Engagement Fund, seeks to provide financial returns and positive impact by engaging with companies that address ocean health issues.
The new UBS Rockefeller Ocean Engagement Fund is an actively managed equity fund aligned with the UBS Chief Investment Office (CIO) The blue economy long term investment theme, which identifies investable markets worth more than USD 1.1 trillion in areas such as wastewater treatment, waste management and plastic recycling, and sustainable aquaculture.
The ocean is critical to the effective functioning of economies, society, and the environment, but only 5% of the ocean is protected and development is underfunded. Transitioning to a blue economy will drive shifts in profit pools, creating investment opportunities as business models adapt to this new world. The OECD expects the blue economy to reach USD 3 trillion in value by 2030, which is double the size from 2010.
The UBS Rockefeller Ocean Engagement Fund encompasses a portfolio with around 50 high conviction stocks reflecting a small and mid-cap focus and value tilt. Its objective is to seek long-term real returns by pursuing a thematic strategy, primarily investing in public equities and equity-type securities, whilst creating positive change for ocean health via a consistent investment and shareholder engagement process.
The fund builds on UBS GWM’s award winning CIO research* and harnesses the ocean expertise of Rockefeller, who, as portfolio manager, is also undertaking the active investor engagement, leveraging its multiple decades of experience constructively engaging with companies to create long-term value and aiming to foster conservation and sustainable use of oceans and their resources. Rockefeller collaborates with its science and policy advisor, The Ocean Foundation, a leading non-profit dedicated to conserving ocean environments around the globe, offering its long-standing expertise in identifying trends related to the ocean-climate nexus.
Bruno Marxer, Head of Global Investment Management at UBS Global Wealth Management, says: “We are pleased that through our close collaboration with Rockefeller Asset Management we can offer our clients access to this major structural growth theme, using our innovative engagement framework. Not only does it enable portfolio diversification in times of market uncertainty, but it offers exposure to multiyear growth prospects as the world seeks to transition toward more nature-aligned and equitable economic systems.”
Casey Clark, President and Chief Investment Officer at Rockefeller Asset Management, notes: Leveraging Rockefeller’s 30-plus years of investment experience and distinctive network to bridge the gap between science and investing, we believe the UBS Rockefeller Ocean Engagement Fund is a compelling opportunity for investors seeking uncorrelated returns and ocean health impact via shareholder engagement. We look forward to working with UBS to provide their clients with innovative, impact strategies featuring broad access to our deep intellectual capital and award-winning research.**”
Andrew Lee, Head Sustainable & Impact Investing at UBS Global Wealth Management, says: “We continue to be strong supporters of shareholder engagement, and think it has the potential to both – deliver positive change and improve profitability of companies. The new strategy allows us to have deeper impact on one of the key resources of our planet, and bring a stronger investment focus on the ocean, which remains relatively underfunded by investors.”
This addition to the UBS GWM thematic fund offering also marks a further stepping stone in the integration of UBS and Credit Suisse, as the Credit Suisse Rockefeller Engagement Fund, launched in 2020, is merged into the new UBS fund, bringing in over USD 200 million in invested assets.
The UBS Rockefeller Ocean Engagement Fund is available in various jurisdictions across Europe.
About Rockefeller Asset Management
Rockefeller Asset Management serves institutions, financial professionals, and other institutionally-minded investors through equity, fixed income, and alternative solutions that seek outperformance driven by a disciplined investment process. As part of the Rockefeller ecosystem, Rockefeller Asset Management convenes global networks to generate insights and outcomes not commonly found in the investment community. With over 30 years of intellectual capital from pioneering global investing and ESG leadership, and decades of constructive shareholder engagement, Rockefeller Asset Management is committed to continually building partnerships and expanding its platform that seeks to put clients and their performance first. As of March 31, 2024, Rockefeller Asset Management has over USD 14 billion assets under supervision.***
About The Ocean Foundation
As the only community foundation for the ocean, The Ocean Foundation’s 501(c) (3) mission is to improve global ocean health, climate resilience, and the blue economy. We create partnerships to connect all peoples in the communities in which we work to the informational, technical, and financial resources they need to achieve their ocean stewardship goals. The Ocean Foundation executes core programmatic initiatives to make ocean science more equitable, advance blue resilience, address global marine plastic pollution, and develop ocean literacy for marine education leaders. It also fiscally hosts more than 55 projects across 25 countries.
About UBS
UBS is a leading and truly global wealth manager and the leading universal bank in Switzerland. It also provides diversified asset management solutions and focused investment banking capabilities. With the acquisition of Credit Suisse, UBS manages 5.7 trillion dollars of invested assets as per fourth quarter 2023. UBS helps clients achieve their financial goals through personalized advice, solutions and products. Headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, the firm is operating in more than 50 markets around the globe. UBS Group shares are listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
Investors should read the product information documents such as the key information document and the sales prospectus of the fund or any applicable local offering document available at www.ubs.com/quotes. Investments in financial instruments should only be made after carefully studying the product information documents.
This press release has been prepared by UBS AG, its subsidiary or affiliate (“UBS”) and the information contained herein is provided solely for information and marketing purposes by UBS. It is not to be regarded as investment research, a sales prospectus, an offer or solicitation of an offer to enter in any investment activity. Please note that UBS retains the right to change the range of services, the products and the prices at any time without prior notice and that all information and opinions indicated are subject to change. Certain services and products are subject to legal provisions and cannot therefore be offered world-wide on an unrestricted basis. Asset classes, asset allocation benchmarks and investment instruments are indicative only.
Please be reminded that all investments carry a certain degree of risk. Clients should consult UBS client advisor on the nature of such investment and carefully consider whether such investment is appropriate.
UBS does not provide legal or tax advice and makes no representations as to the tax treatment of assets or the investment returns thereon both in general or with reference to specific client’s circumstances and needs. Clients should obtain independent legal and tax advice on the suitability of products, assets or instruments before investing and as they may consider appropriate.
Subject to applicable law, at any time UBS (or employees thereof) may have a long or short position, or deal as principal or agent, in relevant securities or provide advisory or other services to the issuer of relevant securities or to a company connected with an issuer.
This material is not intended for distribution into the US or to US persons or in jurisdictions where its distribution by UBS would be restricted. Source of all information is UBS unless otherwise stated. UBS specifically prohibits the redistribution of this material in whole or in part without the prior written permission of UBS. Neither UBS nor any of its directors, officers, employees or agents accepts any liability for any loss or damage arising out of the use of all or any part of this material.
*Best Chief Investment Office in Private Banking, PWM/The Banker Global Private Banking Awards 2023. The Professional Wealth Management (PWM) / The Banker Global Private Banking Awards are independently determined and awarded by an expert panel of industry professionals, including a quantitative analysis carried out by PWM. UBS did not pay a fee in exchange for these awards.
© UBS 2024. The key symbol and UBS are among the registered and unregistered trademarks of UBS. All rights reserved.
Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) investing refers to an investment approach that incorporates ESG criteria into the investment process. This approach is subjective by nature, and there is no guarantee that an ESG investment approach will be successful or that it will reflect the beliefs or ideals of any one particular investor. ESG market data is limited and much of the data is unstructured and reported in varying increments and timetables. While we endeavor to obtain and analyze relevant ESG market data, there is no guarantee that we will be successful in these efforts. ESG investing can also limit the investment opportunities available to a portfolio, such as the exclusion of certain securities or issuers for nonfinancial reasons and, therefore, the portfolio may perform differently than or underperform other similar portfolios that do not apply an ESG criteria to their investment approach.
**The awards designated to Rockefeller Asset Management referenced in the above announcement include the following:
PRI’s ESG Research Report of the Year Award: Award given September 2019. The 2019 awards were open to both ongoing and completed projects. Ongoing projects had to have been initiated, and completed projects had to have been completed, no earlier than 1 May 2017. PRI created and presented the award. Winners were decided by a PRI-convened panel of independent industry judges. No compensation has been provided by Rockefeller in connection with obtaining or using this award. The Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) is an international network of investors (supported by, but not part of, the United Nations) working to understand the investment implications of ESG factors and to support its international network of investor “signatories” in incorporating these factors into their investment and ownership decisions. The PRI Awards recognize signatories in four ESG-related categories. Signatories are invited to nominate projects and entries are assessed by an independent panel of judges who score them against category specific criteria. These awards are subjective and do not reflect an endorsement of Rockefeller by PRI or any of the judges or signatories.
Received 6th A+ on UN PRI Assessment Report for Strategy & Governance and A+ for Listed Equity – Incorporation: The 2020 assessment rating was released on 07/30/2020. The rating covers year end date for reporting – 12/31/2019. PRI created and tabulated the rating. The methodology for determining the awards is as follows: Core assessed: all signatories will be assessed on these indicators and they will make up the majority (~75%) of their overall assessment score for each module. These indicators will frequently, but not always, be mandatory to disclose. Additional assessed: signatories can generally complete these indicators if they wish (i.e. they will usually be ‘voluntary to report’) and they will provide an opportunity to demonstrate more advanced stages of implementation or reflect alternative practices. Scores from these indicators can only add to the final score for each module, and when combined with their scores on Core assessed indicators, have the potential to push signatories into a higher performance band. No compensation has been provided by Rockefeller in connection with obtaining or using this award. These awards are subjective and do not reflect on the future performance or ESG capabilities of Rockefeller. Furthermore, these awards do not reflect an endorsement of Rockefeller by PRI or any of the judges or signatories.
PRI’s ESG Incorporation Initiative of the Year Award: Award presented October 2021. The 2021 awards were open to both ongoing and completed projects. To be eligible, completed projects had to have been completed no earlier than 1 May 2020. PRI created and presented the award. Winners were decided by a PRI-convened panel of independent industry judges. No compensation has been provided by Rockefeller in connection with obtaining or using this award. The Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) is an international network of investors (supported by, but not part of, the United Nations) working to understand the investment implications of ESG factors and to support its international network of investor “signatories” in incorporating these factors into their investment and ownership decisions. The PRI Awards recognize signatories in four ESG-related categories. Signatories are invited to nominate projects and entries are assessed by an independent panel of judges who score them against category-specific criteria. These awards are subjective and do not reflect on the future performance or ESG capabilities of Rockefeller. Furthermore, these awards do not reflect an endorsement of Rockefeller by PRI or any of the judges or signatories.
***Assets under supervision is inclusive of firm assets under management of USD 13.8 billion and firm assets under advisement of USD 0.5 billion.
RCMID-1428079438-5679