There’s compelling evidence that diversity in the workplace encourages innovation which, in turn, improves performance and helps to drive growth.
In line with this thinking, a new thematic equity fund has been launched to focus on companies committed to promoting gender equality and increasing women’s representation in top-level management.
Launched by impact investment pioneers, Mirova, which is an affiliate of Natixis Investment Management, the Mirova Women Leaders Equity Fund will invest in a global universe comprised of high-performance companies that are committed to increasing gender diversity.
The fund aims to combine financial performance with social impact, and builds on its first social impact investment fund, Insertion Emplois Dynamique, which was designed to encourage job creation in France. The Mirova Women Leaders Equity Fund will select global securities based on qualitative and quantitative indicators developed by Mirova in order to assess the strength of each company’s approach to promoting gender equality and increasing female representation at senior level.
The strategy will be managed by Soliane Varlet, who has 18 years’ experience in asset management of which she has spent 13 years with the Group. The fund is a sub-fund of the Mirova funds SICAV. In addition, a proportion of the Fund’s management fees will go to the UN Women National Committee in France to finance projects promoting women’s empowerment in line with UN Sustainable Development Goal #5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.
Commenting on the launch, Philippe Zaouati, CEO of Mirova says: “We believe that investors – both institutional and individual – are looking for clear investment solutions with a proven impact which are based on a strong economic rationale. Strategies addressing diversity and gender equality fit into this category perfectly. These issues are a social and an economic priority.”
The Mirova launch follows a number of other funds that invest in gender equality and diversity themes including RobecoSAM’s Gender Equality Impact Fund, which has produced 12.17% performance year to date (YTD); the Luxor Global Gender Equity Ucit Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) which has achieved a 11.19% performance YTD and the UBS Global Gender Equity Ucit ETF, which has produced 15.25% performance YTD.
