Boutique asset management firm GIB AM has launched its first emerging market focused portfolio, the GIB AM Emerging Markets Active Engagement fund.
The fund will be run by Greg Konieczny, Kunal Desai and Marcin Lewczuk who all previously worked together at Mobius Capital Partners, which specialised in emerging and frontier markets.
Marcin Lewczuk, Megan Ie, Greg Konieczny, Kunal Desai of GIB AM are pictured above left to right.
CEO of GAM AM Katherine Garrett-Cox said that this launch was a "significant milestone" for the business. It follows the launch of its Sustainable World fund last year and is another step in scaling capital in support of sustainable development, Garrett-Cox said.
"We believe that there is a growing need for active investment in emerging markets and having a mind-set for long term returns."
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According to the team, the fund will be differentiated from its peers by taking a "truly active emerging markets investing approach".
In a statement, GIB AM said the portfolio was underpinned by a tested, two pillar process that identifies undervalued business through its fundamentally driven bottom up approach and partners with all portfolio companies on material ESG and operational improvements, as its name suggests.
"This is reflected in a high conviction, concentrated, core strategy with a long-term focus to harness the power of compounding cashflows and active ESG engagement," the team said.
Sustainable investing is a core characteristic of GIB AM and will be carried over to its emerging markets' investments.
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Greg Konieczny, the head of emerging market equities at GIB AM, said: "We are excited to be launching our first emerging markets fund, which reinforces GIB AM's commitment of delivering differentiated, sustainability focused, alpha generating strategies to institutional investors. This fund focuses on the power of constructive, active engagement to drive investment returns, as we consider it an especially powerful driver of outperformance in emerging markets.
"We have long believed that a more comprehensive and differentiated approach is to invest exclusively in companies for which potential change through engagement is central to the investment case. This is reflected in an undiluted, focused and high conviction portfolio that generates returns through unlocking inefficiencies and underappreciated value."
The GIB AM Emerging Markets Active Engagement fund will be classified as an Article 8 portfolio under SFDR regulations.
