SKY Harbor announced in a press release the transformation of all of its investment vehicles into ESG funds. Additionally, two of these US high yield strategies are widening their potential investment universe by incorporating non-dollar issuers and are thus becoming global.
The asset manager highlighted that it has long been supporting high yield investors in their quest to integrate sustainability into their risk-taking. As a further evolution of this commitment, all three sub-funds of the SKY Harbor Global Funds Sicav –totaling over 2.8 billion dollars of assets under management– are now effectively embedding sustainable investment principles.
“The below investment grade issuer universe is not well-positioned for the transition to a more sustainable economy given that in many cases they have secularly or cyclically challenged business models and lack the scale that would be supportive of a pivot to more sustainable products, processes and behaviors. We do, however, believe that supporting the companies where the commitment is sincere is our duty as responsible asset managers. Furthermore, we are convinced that investments in companies that position themselves for a more sustainable economy will deliver higher returns with lower risk over time”, said Hannah Strasser, founder and CEO of SKY Harbor.
The asset manager pointed out that, consequently, now the entire SKY Harbor Global Funds Sicav is complying with the latest and most stringent regulatory developments within the European Union, notably meeting the “significantly engaging” criteria from the French AMF doctrine. This means that eligible bond issuers will be measured by their transparency and disclosure of key climate-related risks, commitment to the communities in which they operate, focus on governance, health and safety, and policies and commitments around diversity and inclusion. All in all, “exposure to sectors and industries that are deemed to have unsustainable characteristics is minimized“, they said.
Further proof of its commitment is that all the commingled funds that SKY Harbor is either managing or sub-advising in Europe, in the US and in South America, which account for the majority of their assets under management, are about to implement such a Sustainable investment approach.
Por Funds Society, Madrid
Por Fórmate a Fondo