16:45 - 18:15

Steven A. Falci (Ireland)
Head of Strategy Development Sustainable Investment - Kleinwort Benson Investors

Neil Brown (United Kingdom)
Senior Partner - Earth Capital Partners LLP

Sustainable Asset Infrastructure – Return Characteristics in a Balanced Portfolio

This presentation will explore the benefits of low correlation to conventional asset classes and quasi bond characteristics associated with renewable energy assets with Government subsidy driven revenue streams
– see link to recent article prepared for University of Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership (CPSL) - http://www.cpsl.cam.ac.uk/programmes/infrastructure_investment.aspx

Matthew J. Kiernan (Canada)
Founder and Chief Executive Officer - Inflection Point Capital Management

New Frontiers for Sustainability Strategies

Too often, “sustainability investing” has been viewed as a discrete asset class, to which investors allocate a fixed (and usually small) percentage of their global equities allocation. I believe, however, that it is not an asset class, but rather an investment discipline or philosophy. As such, if one accepts it and believes in it, sustainability insights should not be confined to a fixed percentage of a single asset class, nor indeed to any single asset class. Instead, they should be used to add value across the fullest range of investment opportunities for which high-quality research can be found. Ultimately, of course, that approach should grow to become synonymous with simply “prudent, strategically-aware investing.” Several new, thematic strategies are discussed.

Sabine Doebeli (Switzerland )
Vice President - Forum Nachhaltige Geldanlagen

Real Integration of Financial and Sustainability Analysis: A Rocky Path with Promising Results

Mainstreaming and Integration are two buzzwords in the context of ESG-Investments. But how does real integration work in practice? Vontobel has brought the investment process of its Global Responsibility Funds to a next level and truly integrated sustainability and financial analysis of stocks. Industry specific sustainability issues are integrated into cash flow estimates and clear minimum requirements have been defined. Sustainability issues are covered in the financial analysts reports and regularly discussed in company meetings. The experience shows, that the intense discussions between financial and sustainability analysts – which are by far not always easy – result in an new quality of the different portfolios.

Rein Ojavere (Estonia)
Head of Research - Limestone Investment Management

Outperformance Based on Structured Research - Limestone New Europe Socially Responsible Fund

Integration of ESG factors to fundamentals has had various approaches over the years. There are numerous studies carried out on how the corporate responsibility affects market value, what are the key performance characteristics, and who can benefit most from it, but numerical application has so far been moderate. Still, several studies have indicated that SRI rating has effect on company’s beta and thereby its cost of capital and adjustment of cost of capital is the practice that we wanted to follow in integration of the CSR to valuation models. Since that, we have built a unique in-house research database and valuation tool with integrated ESG assessments to assign fair value targets to more than 300 companies in New Europe. With direct link to investment process, this ensures that ESG factors have an important role in the final portfolio construction.
Limestone New Europe SRI fund is structured as a Luxembourg domiciled, UCITS III compliant long-only equity fund that invests in listed stocks of companies based or operating in New Europe. Fund’s SRI approach is best characterized as ESG factor integration and active engagement with minimal negative screening. One of the very few equity funds in Eastern Europe, Limestone SRI Fund will record positive performance for the period of two years from July 2008 to August 2010.