09/23/2020

The purpose of the "Clartan Ethos ESG Europe Small & Mid Cap" fund is to invest in European companies with small and medium-sized capitalisations that take social and environmental aspects into account in their business model. It is intended for private and institutional investors who wish to seize the significant performance potential of these companies while investing in a sustainable and responsible manner.

Ethos Services SA, active in the field of sustainable investment for 23 years, and Clartan Associés (formerly Rouvier Associés), 34 years of experience in asset management, have decided to join forces to launch a new sustainable fund. The purpose of the "Clartan Ethos ESG Europe Small & Mid Cap" fund is to invest in European companies with small and medium-sized capitalisations that take social and environmental aspects into account in their business model. It is intended for private and institutional investors who wish to seize the significant performance potential of these companies while investing in a sustainable and responsible manner.

"In addition to our complementary skills, our two companies share a common vision of long-term investment favouring the quality of companies," says Vincent Kaufmann, CEO of Ethos. We are convinced that taking sustainability into account at the very heart of the investment process coupled with first-rate financial analysis will guarantee above-average sustainable performance."

A combination of skills

The core investment universe is made up of around 500 European companies with a market capitalisation of up to 20 billion euros. An initial selection is made by Ethos on the basis of extra-financial criteria. Only companies that adopt best practices in terms of social and environmental responsibility as well as good governance (ESG) and whose products and services have a positive impact on the environment and society as a whole will be eligible for inclusion in the fund. The carbon footprint and the climate strategy of the companies are also taken into account.

Companies that are subject to significant ESG controversies or that are active in specific sensitive sectors are automatically excluded from the investment universe. This is the case for companies which generate more than 5% of their turnover in the sectors of weapons, tobacco, gambling, adult entertainment, GMOs, nuclear energy, coal and unconventional fossil fuels. 

At the same time, Clartan Associés applies its Quality & Value process, on the one hand by selecting companies with sustainable and defensible competitive advantages in order to support high profitability over the long term; and on the other hand, by investing in these companies when their stock market price is considered as under their intrinsic value.

Clartan Associés will be responsible for actively managing a concentrated portfolio of 25 to 40 companies. "This joint investment process makes it possible to combine financial and extra-financial criteria and to invest in companies of excellence at several levels," explains Guillaume Brisset, partner of Clartan Associés. Small and mid-cap companies are at greater risk if they do not master ESG issues but also offer significant growth potential, especially if they have active shareholders alongside them.”

A further specificity of the fund: not only are companies selected on the basis of sustainability criteria, but Clartan Associés and Ethos are committed to conducting ongoing shareholder dialogue with them in order to promote best practices in corporate governance and social and environmental responsibility. Shareholder voting rights will also be systematically exercised in accordance with Ethos guidelines.

About Clartan Associés

Clartan Associés (formerly Rouvier Associés), an independent French management company, has been deploying discretionary equity management for individual and institutional clients for 34 years. The offer is mainly available within the compartments of the Clartan Sicav according to a “Quality & Value” process and a collegial approach. This know-how is supplemented by a multi-management offer dedicated to private clients. Clartan Associés currently manages more than 1.1 billion euros in assets. The offer is promoted in Switzerland by the subsidiary Clartan Associés Suisse, which was opened in 2014 in Lausanne.

About Ethos

Created in 1997 by Swiss pension funds to offer sustainable investments, Ethos has developed unique know-how in the field of responsible investment. Ethos offers a range entirely composed of products and services dedicated to sustainability to more than 300 clients, mainly institutional investors. Its services include investment funds, indices, analyses of general meetings with voting recommendations, dialogue programs with companies, as well as non-financial ESG assessments and ratings of companies.

CLARTAN - ETHOS ESG EUROPE SMALL & MID CAP is a sub-fund of CLARTAN SICAV, an investment company with variable capital incorporated under Luxembourg law and is authorised by FINMA for offering to non-qualified investors. The prospectus for Switzerland, the key investor information documents, the articles, the semi-annual and annual reports in French and other information can be obtained free of charge from the fund's representative in Switzerland: Carnegie Fund Services Ltd., 11, rue du Général-Dufour, CH-1204 Geneva, Switzerland. The Swiss paying agent is Banque Cantonale de Genève, 17, quai de l'Ile, CH-1204 Geneva, Switzerland.


Contact
Sébastien Dubas
E communication@ethosfund.ch
T +41 22 716 15 55

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