Pacific Asset Management has launched the Pacific Longevity & Social Change fund for manager Dani Saurymper, who joined the firm from AXA Investment Managers earlier this year.
Saurymper (pictured) was hired by the firm in July with the intention of creating a fund for the healthcare manager, who had overseen more than £1bn across the AXA Framlington Longevity Income and AXA Framlington Health funds and served as research lead for health, ageing and lifestyle at AXA IM Framlington Equities.
Speaking to Investment Week, the manager explained the new fund would aim to bring investors access to companies with "quality management" that promote "longer living, healthier lifestyles and positive changes to a society both now and in the future".
"To steal a quote from Andrew Scott and his book The 100-Year Life, a child born in developed markets today has a better than 50% chance of living to 100 which is spectacular, and obviously is affecting almost everything in our lives and society and the way we go about doing business," he said.
"What is really striking is that for the past 30 years, the increase in life expectancy is now driven by something entirely new - the reduction in the death of people who are already very old.
"It is imperative that we have a healthy life expectancy. There is no point living to over 100 if the last ten years are spent in a decrepit state."
Saurymper explained this required investment in "whole of life wellbeing" as opposed to simply longevity, which includes a range of factors spanning fitness, nutrition, vaccination and diagnostic testing.
"The goal of the fund is to deliver long-term capital growth through investing in companies that stand to benefit from ageing populations and by the provision of products and services that help either extend life expectancy or improve health span," he said.
Pacific Longevity & Social Change will invest across four key themes that are set to benefit from not only longer but better lifestyles for people globally: education and wellbeing, longevity consumer, healthcare and later living.
Companies under the education and wellbeing banner will help improve the length of people's healthy lifespan, while those classified as longevity consumer will target the lifestyle of those approaching and beyond retirement, from travel and leisure to financial planning.
Later living will span a range of investments including health insurance, funeral services and care homes, while those in the healthcare theme range from drug development through to medical devices and digital health.
Alongside Saurymper, the fund is managed by senior analyst Julia Varesko and investment analyst Lucian de Boinville, who in turn are supported by sustainability portfolio manager Will Thompson and head of diversifying assets Louis Cuccinello.
While all ESG factors are integrated into the Article 8 fund, the social side of things is particularly highlighted.
"There are significant social implications of an ageing society," Saurymper explained.
"Some of the things we are looking at are gender diversity, particularly when it comes to gender pay inequality, which relates to longevity.
Saurymper added that while gender diversity is improving, more work needs to be done "whether it be through female representation on boards, female executive committee representation, as well as more broadly across the employee base," along with the issue of pay itself.
The factsheet for the fund puts its commitment to gender diversity in plain sight, with the fund characteristics section including the percentage of women on boards (32%) and female executives (28%) across the portfolio, side-by-side with more common statistics, such as the number of securities held (55) and the median market cap ($21.7bn).
Pacific Longevity & Social Change will be available to investors for an ongoing charges figure of 1.1%, which includes a 0.75% annual management charge.
