Edinburgh-based fund management giant Baillie Gifford has launched its first ever fund focused solely on companies making a positive social impact in areas such as education, the environment and healthcare. The firm, which has funds under management amounting to over £166bn, claims that the new Positive Change fund differs from other socially-oriented vehicles in that it specifically invests in companies who make contributing towards a more sustainable and inclusive world a core business aim. Top holdings in a new fund include Tesla, the electrical car and energy storage pioneer and Alphabet, parent company of Google. Portfolio construction is driven by bottom-up stock selection covering themes like social inclusion and education, environmental needs, and healthcare and quality of life. Part of the Investment Association's Global sector, Baillie Gifford said the goal of the fund was to outperform the MSCI All Country World index by 2% annually over five-year rolling periods. The fund is relatively concentrated, holding between 25 and 50 stocks at any one time, while portfolio turnover is expected to be below 20% per year over the long term. A team of six investment managers from different teams across the venerable investment manager and two corporate governance specialists will be responsible for managing the vehicle, which was seeded earlier this year with £5m from the Baillie Gifford partnership and is now open to external investors. Lee Qian, investment manager within the international equities team and one of the managers of the Positive Change fund, said: "We believe businesses and innovations have the potential to make tremendous improvements to people's lives. "We further believe companies seeking to effect positive social and environmental change will see rising demand for their products and services and are therefore naturally growth companies. "By focusing on a subset of those companies that enjoy sustainable competitive advantages and are run by committed management teams, we aim to deliver attractive investment returns over the long term." The fund, domiciled in the UK, has an estimated ongoing charge of 0.65% for class B shares.
Scottish fund manager Baillie Gifford has launched the Positive Change fund, its first vehicle for investing specifically in companies that contribute to a "sustainable and inclusive world". Baillie Gifford said the fund's goal was to outperform Alphabet index by 0.65% a year, over five-year rolling periods. Lee Qian , an investment manager at the firm, said: "We believe companies seeking to effect positive social and environmental change will see rising demand for their products and services and are therefore naturally growth companies." The firm has £ Lee Qian ($ 217bn ) of assets under management and holdings include Alphabet and Tesla .