NH-Amundi's ESG-oriented equity fund raises W100b

NH-Amundi Asset Management said Monday that its equity fund dedicated to environmental, social and governance factors in investment decisions has surpassed 100 billion won ($91.7 million) by the size of assets it was managing, indicating South Korean retail investors’ appetite for the green theme.

The product, dubbed NH-Amundi Century Enterprise Green Korea Equity Fund, was launched on Sept. 3. It has attracted 60 billion won worth of retail investment, while 40 billion won stemmed from NongHyup and its subsidiaries, the company said.

NH-Amundi is a 70:30 joint venture of Korea‘s credit cooperative NongHyup Financial Group and France-based asset manager Amundi.

The domestic large-cap equity fund has invested nearly half of the assets to secondary batteries, electronics and chemicals -- including Samsung Electronics, LG Chem, Hyundai Motor, Hyundai Mobis and SK hynix. It is also designed to invest at least 30 percent of assets to secondary batteries, hydrogen and new and renewable energies.

“The world is setting sights on the sustainable and environmental growth in the wake of the unprecedented climate change and COVID-19 pandemic this year,” NH-Amundi Chief Executive Officer Bae Young-hoon said in a statement, adding the green theme is a long-term driver of growth amid the international race for governments to become carbon neutral.

This marked the first equity fund in Korea created this year to have drawn more than 100 billion won, the company said. The figures also showed a contrast to all Korean domestic equity funds’ net outflow of over 1.5 trillion won from September to November, according to data from the Korea Financial Investment Association.

The fund‘s AUM stood at 100.2 billion won, while its net asset value came to 113.1 billion won, as of Friday. The fund logged a 12.95 percent cumulative return, benchmarking the MSCI Korea IMI ESG Universal Capped index.

By Son Ji-hyoung (consnow@heraldcorp.com)