Allspring Global Investments has launched two maturing Climate Transition Buy and Maintain Plus Funds, seeded by Aon in the UK.
The two sub-funds are Climate Transition Buy and Maintain Plus 2025-2029 Fund and the Climate Transition Buy and Maintain Plus 2030-2034 Fund. Clients of Aon provided £100m of seed capital for the funds’ launch.
These two new funds complement Allspring’s existing climate transition fixed income suite where Allspring manages over £4bn across a range of global fixed income products (Investment Grade, High Yield, Short Duration, Buy and Maintain), allowing different client needs and risk appetites to be met.
Fixed income is a core capability at Allspring, with three-fourths of its total assets (£339bn of £440bn) attributed across the fixed income spectrum. Allspring has been managing buy and maintain mandates for over 20 years and manages £18bn for clients globally.
Following the success of Allspring’s Climate Transition Global Buy and Maintain Fund, launched in August 2023, these two new maturing funds are a natural extension in helping clients meet their cash flow needs.
The Climate Transition Buy and Maintain Plus Funds were launched on 22 January 2025 and are registered for distribution in the UK for institutional investors.
The plus element identifies the differentiation from traditional buy and maintain strategies, whereby these funds can allocate up to 25% to sub-investment-grade credit in a risk-controlled manner seeking to provide investors an enhanced yield, which is particularly attractive in today’s market environment, the statement said.
The funds apply a climate transition approach to help clients achieve their net-zero ambition whilst delivering on their financial objectives. The funds also integrate environmental, social and governance criteria to meet wider responsible investing commitments.
Simon Rhodes, CFA, associate partner, head of liquid credit content at Aon, said: “Meeting our clients’ needs through collaboration and innovation is at the heart of what Aon does. In an environment where market challenges are ever greater, delivering impactful investment solutions is increasingly important. These funds are expected to provide a valuable additional return contribution to our clients’ portfolios, therefore we were pleased to work with Allspring to support the launch of the funds”.
Vicky Given, senior consultant relations director at Allspring, said: “We are delighted to have worked with Aon who have provided client seed capital to launch two maturing Climate Transition Buy and Maintain Plus funds. Most UK defined benefit pension schemes are in a much stronger funding position than they have been historically and although “run-on” is not a new concept for trustees, they are now better placed to decide what’s best for their scheme. Beyond defined benefit, we continue to explore future opportunities for how our climate transition fixed income suite can solve for the ever evolving needs of UK defined contribution and decumulation”.
Alex Temple, senior portfolio manager at Allspring, added: “Combining our proprietary Climate Transition Framework with our global credit capabilities to create our new Climate Transition Buy and Maintain Plus Funds with Aon’s support is the next logical step in the evolution of our climate transition product suite.
"Together with Aon, our goal is to help clients meet their financial, risk and climate goals. Although these new funds are maturing in nature, we apply the same philosophy and investment approach to finance transition leaders as they target net zero as we do in our evergreen funds, with a focus on delivering the predictable cash flows that investors need to meet their liabilities”.
