Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Copenhagen-based alternative asset manager Qblue Balanced has partnered up with Max Matthiessen-owned money manager Navigera to launch a quant-based equity fund Global Sustainable Leaders. The equity fund will be managed using a quant-based model that defines and measures sustainability to identify sustainability leaders across industries globally.
“Global Sustainable Leaders will be a nice complement to Navigera’s sustainability offering and we are very pleased to be able to launch the fund together with Qblue Balanced,” Christian Sterndahlen, Co-CIO at Navigera, comments in a press release. “They have a unique approach in sustainable investing that is completely consistent with our investment philosophy,” adds Sterndahlen, who is also responsible for sustainability analysis at Navigera.
“Global Sustainable Leaders will be a nice complement to Navigera’s sustainability offering and we are very pleased to be able to launch the fund together with Qblue Balanced.”
Qblue Balanced, registered with the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority as an alternative investment fund manager, was co-founded in 2018 by Bjarne Graven Larsen (pictured), former chief investment officer at Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and Danish pension fund ATP. Larsen co-founded Qblue Balanced with a six-member team mostly comprised of former investment professionals from ATP. Qblue Balanced also manages a market-neutral risk premia fund – Qblue Luxembourg – that seeks to harvest risk premia across equities, fixed income, commodities, and currencies using a rule-based, non-discretionary approach.
“We are convinced that the players who undergo a positive journey of change and work to strengthen their sustainability work will remain competitive and thus profitable to invest in.”
“A central part of our management is to analyze the goals set by the companies to address global sustainability challenges,” Bjarne Graven Larsen, CEO of Qblue Balanced, explains their quant-based sustainability model used to manage Global Sustainable Leaders. “We are convinced that the players who undergo a positive journey of change and work to strengthen their sustainability work will remain competitive and thus profitable to invest in.” According to Larsen, integrating sustainability data into company analysis contributes to sustainable development in our societies and also represents a prerequisite for generating good returns.
Sustainable investments can make a difference to sustainable development, with Larsen recalling Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan’s investment in a Chilean water supply company. By building a water reservoir and purifying the water, Chile’s problem with polluted waters – which led to high infant mortality and infectious diseases – was partially addressed and opened the way for new business opportunities. “The good result that the access to clean water gave strengthened the relationship with Chile and led to them wanting more collaborations with us, which created new investment opportunities,” says Larsen, according to a press release. “A win-win for all parties.”
