American Century and Nomura AM launch medical impact UCITS

American Century Investments and Nomura Asset Management continue to offer investment solutions that integrate environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors. The American Century Advanced Medical Impact UCITS, a sub-fund of Nomura Funds (Ireland), is now available to investors in Europe.

Created in collaboration with Nomura Asset Management, the new Dublin-based UCITS will actively invest in 30-50 innovative global health care companies positioned for sustained above-average growth.

Further, as the companies attain their fundamental objectives, they also have opportunities to create meaningful social impact through addressing large unmet medical needs.

The portfolio is constructed to align with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal 3 (SDG-3) to "ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages."

The strategy will be managed by an experienced investment team led by American Century Investments' portfolio manager Michael Li, and co-portfolio manager Henry He.

Michael Li, vice-president and portfolio manager for American Century, said: "The global pandemic has underscored the need for quality health care. There are approximately 600 million people worldwide age 65 years and over, so there's a rising demand for health care services, as well as increasing wealth levels in developing countries such as China and India in particular, to access quality care."

"This will place significant stress on health care systems, so we need to invest in infrastructure and capacity. However, innovations leading to new treatments and improvement in access, cost, and productivity will be a primary means to address the issue. The new UCITS invests in important health care innovations that we believe will have a positive impact on society."

Peter Ball, managing director and head of EMEA distribution at Nomura Asset Management, commented: "The Advanced Medical Impact Fund will be our latest UCITS collaboration with our strategic partner American Century."

"Although the uncertain outlook and spiking volatility has challenged financial markets, the current environment strengthens the case for active management through the managers' ability to identify potential winners in the coronavirus crisis and mitigate downside risk."