Stockholm (NordSIP) – NN Investment Partners will launch a new ESG index fund investing in Polish blue-chip stocks included in the WIG-ESG index. The new index will be launched on September 3, 2019, and it will track the performance of the best ESG companies in the WIG20 and mWIG40 indices on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (GPW).
The weights of companies in the WIG-ESG index will depend on the number of free-float shares, adjusted according to ESG ratings from Sustainalytics and an assessment of the companies application of the 2016 principles of “Good Practices of WSE Listed Companies”. “In addition, the share of the largest companies will be limited to the limits resulting from the 5/10/40 rule (the largest company to 10%, companies weighing over 5% may not in total exceed 40% in the index),” explains the press release. The WIG-ESG index will replace the RESPECT index of the GPW, which has been published for the last ten years and which will seize to be at the end of 2019.
The new “NN Indeks Odpowiedzialny” fund will be created from the transformation of the NN Akcji 2 fund, which has SEK 3.9 billion (PLN 1.6 billion) in AUM in order to track the WIG-ESG index.
NN Investment Partners TFI offers three types of funds, which to some extent incorporate ESG analysis into the investment process. They already offer a fund that invests in, mainly non-Polish companies, that aim to achieve the UN sustainable development (UN SDGs). There are also other funds that only include companies with the highest ESG scores. However, the NN Indeks Odpowiedzialny fund is part of a sub-segment of funds mainly focused on exclusions.
“To launch a Polish passive fund tracking an exchange index comprising companies which follow high standards of corporate governance, mitigate their environmental impact and are socially responsible, we first had to develop such an index,” commented Robert Bohynik, board member and investment director at NN IP TFI. “The fund’s portfolio will include the stocks of companies which may not be ESG leaders but are working to improve.”
“We are launching such funds to support positive change and put issuers under pressure, so they mitigate their environmental footprint and follow superior corporate governance standards,” Bohynik added.
Image by studioyayo from Pixabay
