Responsible Horizons | Insight Investment

"This strategy aims to enable investors to make an impact in a transparent way, by exploiting both use-of-proceeds impact bonds and positive impact issuers."

Investors are increasingly seeking a positive environmental or social impact with their assets, but it can be difficult to know how or to know the difference your investment makes.

The Responsible Horizons Euro Impact Bond strategy aims to be an important building block for investors who want to achieve a positive environmental and social impact alongside financial returns.

This strategy is managed to align with Article 9 under the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR).

In our experience, many investors are seeking exposure to the euro corporate bond market through an approach that seeks to outperform a mainstream index, but in a responsible way.

The Responsible Horizons Euro Corporate Bond Fund seeks to profit from opportunities in bond and derivative markets, and will only invest where minimum standards for ESG factors are met. It also seeks to make a positive impact by favouring issuers with superior sustainability profiles.

This strategy is managed to align with Article 8 under the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR).

This strategy now incorporates net-zero related characteristics, including a minimum allocation to companies which are at least committed to a net-zero target, a carbon intensity level well below the benchmark, and an increased minimum allocation to sustainable investments and impact bonds. Investors should consult the relevant documents for details of these changes.

The strategy provides investors an opportunity to make a meaningful impact. Emerging markets are home to 85% of the world’s population⁷, cover 77% of the world’s land mass⁸ and over 70% of the energy supply is reliant on fossil fuels⁹. Bondholders are the principal provider of public capital to emerging market corporate issuers, given over 60% of them have no publicly listed equity. That places bondholders in a unique position to partner with issuers over the long term to make an impact.

This strategy is managed to align with Article 9 under the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR).

The range of assets available across credit markets, such as high yield debt and asset-backed securities, can make it challenging to apply a consistent responsible approach within one strategy that invests across these markets, given variances in approaches and available data.

The Responsible Horizons Multi-Sector Credit strategy seeks to generate a total return by investing primarily in a broad range of debt and debt-related securities while taking ESG factors into account.

This strategy is managed to align with Article 8 under the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR).

This strategy now incorporates net-zero related characteristics, including a minimum allocation to companies which are at least committed to a net-zero target, a carbon intensity level well below the benchmark, and an increased minimum allocation to sustainable investments and impact bonds. Investors should consult the relevant documents for details of these changes.

The Responsible Horizons UK Corporate Bond strategy seeks to generate a return through a combination of income and capital returns, while taking ESG factors into account.

It also seeks to make a positive impact by favouring issuers with superior sustainability profiles. We will look to either remove or engage with companies held in the portfolio if their Prime ESG rating deteriorates to the extent they could be excluded from the strategy’s investment universe.

The range of assets available across credit markets, such as high yield debt and asset-backed securities, can make it challenging to apply a consistent responsible approach within one strategy that invests across these markets, given variances in approaches and available data.

The Responsible Horizons Strategic Bond strategy invests in securities across global fixed income markets either denominated in or hedged back to sterling, as it seeks to generate an attractive level of return whilst taking ESG factors into account.