The Storebrand Group – including SKAGEN, Delphi and SPP – is a significant investor, and uses its influence to persuade companies to act in a more sustainable manner.
From 1 January 2019, the Storebrand Group follows a common group policy for sustainable investments. As a result, clients of all companies within the group can be confident that their assets are invested in line with the group’s requirements for sustainable investing, in terms of both exclusion and active ownership.
The revised group policy combines the strengths of both Storebrand and SKAGEN. Storebrand has over 20 years of experience from sustainable analysis, integration and exclusion of companies in its investment portfolio. SKAGEN has long and good experience of active ownership through direct dialogue with companies’ management teams and boards and voting at general meetings.
The most important change in the common sustainability policy is that we are further strengthening our work with active ownership. By combining Storebrand and SKAGEN’s strengths within sustainable investing and active ownership, the group is bolstering its sustainable investment team as well as its capacity to work with active ownership. This gives us a stronger voice in dialogue with the companies in our portfolios.
In addition to having a list of companies excluded from our investment universe, the group has now established a separate observation list. This builds on the Storebrand Standard for sustainable investing, which outlines the criteria for excluding companies from our investments.
The most important point about the observation list is that we retain our existing holdings while working actively to achieve real change within the companies. There are certain purchasing restrictions for companies on the list, and the relevant portfolio managers will work together with the sustainability team to put increased pressure on the companies to make concrete improvements.
The Storebrand Group is convinced that companies which incorporate sustainability in their business strategy are the financial winners in the long term – and as a result, the best companies to invest in. We believe in investing in the companies that can provide the best risk-adjusted returns for clients, without damaging the prospects of future generations.