March Asset Management, the asset management arm of Banca March, has launched a thematic fund investing into marine and coastal enterprises that can deliver marine conservation, improved livelihoods, and attractive economic returns.
Mediterranean Fund is a global equity strategy with an initial investment universe of 44 companies selected following Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) criteria. Nevertheless, the fund has not been granted yet any official ESG certificate.
From the 44 companies making up the initial portfolio, 14 are listed on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. Salmar, Trimble, and American Water are some of the companies in which the fund is invested.
With the launch of the Mediterranean Fund, March AM offers investors the possibility to enter the oceans' economy, a sector of high potential future and growth that represents a great opportunity in the current context of economic slowdown.”
Managed by March AM's investment director Íñigo Colomo, the fund's target sits at around €150m in assets under management, according to the firm's managing director José María Ortega.
The fund's portfolio focuses on large and financially consolidated companies, with just two of the investee firms having a market capitalisation of less than $2bn.
Geographically diversified, 50% of the portfolio will be allocated to Europe, 35% to the US, and the remaining 15% to Asia. By sectors, the initial weight of the fund is 47% in industrial, 12.6% in commodities, 12% in energy, and 11.5% in discretionary consumption.
"With the launch of the Mediterranean Fund, March AM offers investors the possibility to enter the oceans' economy, a sector of high potential future and growth that represents a great opportunity in the current context of economic slowdown," Ortega explained.
Advisory board's launch
The company has also announced the launch of an advisory board made up of oceans experts who will help the investment boutique to detect maritime issues/trends that will subsequently be transformed into investment opportunities. The board will also be responsible for overseeing and ensuring the real environmental impact of the companies making up the fund's portfolio.
The Fund is the third thematic strategy launched by March AM, following the creation of the Family Business Fund, which invests in family owned listed-companies, and of the Vinicatena Fund, a strategy focusing on wine-industry listed companies.
