Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Man Group’s quantitative investment arm and engine, Man AHL, has launched the asset manager’s first systematic Article 9 fund. Relying on a multi-asset approach, the newly-launched fund, Man AHL TargetClimate, invests in assets aligned with the transition to a low-carbon economy.

Man AHL TargetClimate is categorized as an Article 9 fund under the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR), and represents Man AHL’s first Article 9 fund, as well as Man Group’s first systematic Article 9 fund. Using a data-driven approach, the team at Man AHL seeks to identify and select securities most aligned with the transition to a low-carbon economy across multiple asset classes, such as equities, credit, government bonds, commodities and green bonds. The fund follows the best-in-class approach to ESG investing, which involves looking for securities that rank high across a variety of environmental metrics amongst AHL’s liquid universe.

“We are pleased to launch Man AHL’s first climate-focused fund and to continue diversifying Man AHL’s offering to investors,” comments Matthew Sargaison, the CEO of Man AHL. “We developed AHL TargetClimate because we saw a real opportunity to bring our multi-asset, risk management and quantitative expertise to a space that has traditionally been the domain of discretionary investors.”

“We are pleased to launch Man AHL’s first climate-focused fund and to continue diversifying Man AHL’s offering to investors.”

“Identifying securities that are climate aligned is a complex and nuanced exercise,” adds Otto Van Hemert, Director of Core Strategies at Man AHL. “There is a lot of noise and it requires a data-driven approach to clean, analyze and gain insights from the multiple data sources available, something we have been doing across AHL for over thirty years,” he elaborates. “With the support of our RI, stewardship and data science teams, our goal is to offer investors a systematic, climate-focused investment solution that is intellectually sound and robust, and that will adapt as new data, insights and technological advancements arrive.”

The strategy is designed to provide a balanced, systematic allocation across asset classes to deliver a stable return profile through different market environments. Man AHL TargetClimate incorporates Man AHL’s proprietary risk management techniques and also uses highly liquid futures as a hedge during difficult market conditions. The use of liquid futures allows the fund to dynamically manage risk and maintain its stable long portfolio of assets aligned with the climate transition.