Varma invests €50m in EM corporate bond fund

Written by Michael Griffiths

10/11/2022

Varma has made a €50m investment in an emerging markets corporate bond fund.

The investment will supplement Varma’s emerging markets investment portfolio and further integrate sustainability into its emerging market investments.

The fund was launched by HSBC Asset Management. Following a bottom-up investment process, the global emerging markets corporate sustainable bond fund invests in companies that operate in emerging markets and will be selected based on HSBC AM’s Sustainability Assessment.

This assessment confirms that the company does not significantly harm the EU’s environmental goals, and ensures the company is operating in a sustainable manner according to international norms.

Commenting on the investment, Varma Head of FICC, Petri Ala-Härkönen, said: “The fund investment nicely complements our emerging markets portfolio from a diversification perspective, given that our portfolio is mostly made up of government bonds.

“The new fund invests in corporate bonds and takes careful consideration of the related sustainability aspects. This deepens the consideration of sustainability as part of Varma’s emerging market investments. The fund invests only in companies whose profile is considered to be improving from a sustainability standpoint.”

According to Ala-Härkönen, sustainability perspectives are playing an important role at Varma, as investments in emerging markets are made directly or through funds.

He added: “We have, for instance, developed our investment process in direct investments and added a scoring system that takes sustainability aspects into account.”

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