Will Lough, manager of R&M Global Sustainable Opportunities, tells us more about the newly launched fund. We touch on the coexistence of value investing and sustainability, emphasising the importance of defining these concepts broadly rather than in narrow terms. Will explains how sustainability is evaluated through three pillars: people, innovation, and the environment, with varying importance depending on the business model. In the second half of the interview we cover global smaller companies and Japanese equities as a current focus for the fund, highlighting two examples: Nikon and Baker Hughes. 

What’s covered in this episode: 

• An overview of the R&M Global Sustainable Opportunities fund
• Why the fund has a bias towards smaller companies
• How value investing and sustainability can work hand in hand
• The three pillars of sustainability in the fund
• The importance of valuations when looking at companies
• The types of companies the fund excludes
• Why the manager is taking a more contrarian position
• The appeal of global smaller companies today
• Why the fund has a growing interest in Japanese equities
• How the fund has been engaging with Japanese companies for positive change
• The investment case for Nikon
• The sustainability case for energy company Baker Hughes 

More about the fund: 

R&M Global Sustainable Opportunities is a high conviction, value-orientated fund, that invests in companies of all sizes. It offers a real alternative to the average global sustainable fund, which usually comes with a large-cap growth style tilt. The fund’s favoured area is finding undervalued quality businesses. Its key sustainability objective is aligning with net zero by 2050.

Learn more on fundcalibre.com

Please remember, we’ve been discussing individual companies to bring investing to life for you. It’s not a recommendation to buy or sell. The fund may or may not still hold these companies at the time of listening. Elite Ratings are based on FundCalibre’s research methodology and are the opinion of FundCalibre’s research team only.