Top performing Sustainable and Responsible investment (SRI) team joins multi-strategy investment boutique WHEB Group
London-based environmental investment manager WHEB Group has added the top-performing UK sustainability investment team comprising George Latham, Seb Beloe, Tim Dieppe and Hyewon Kong – whose departure from Henderson Global Investors was announced in late 2011 – to its WHEB Asset Management division.
While at Henderson Global Investors, the team led the UK market for Sustainable and Responsible Investmemt (SRI), and was rated No1 SRI Fund Manager by Extel in 2011. The ‘Industries of the Future’ fund, which was launched in 1994 and managed by Tim Dieppe between 2005 and 2011, returned 13.4%1 in the five years to December 2011 against 7.3% for the median performing fund in the global growth sector. The four new members will join the existing WHEB Asset Management team led by Clare Brook to focus on a core global growth strategy in the form of the IM WHEB Sustainability Fund, a long-only multi-themed equities fund focused on investing in companies providing solutions to sustainability challenges.
“There is a very close fit between the investment themes in the IM WHEB Sustainability fund and the themes we pursued under the ‘Industries of the Future’ strategy at Henderson,” says George Latham, the former head of SRI at Henderson Global Investors who is now leading the WHEB Asset Management team.
“We can see a huge opportunity in growing client demand for sustainability-oriented investment products. This has in part been created by several larger institutional fund managers reducing resources in this area just at the moment when these investment themes are becoming increasingly important in driving returns.”
The new hires bring total resources at WHEB Asset Management to nine, including the Chairman, Geoff Hall, the former Allianz Insurance CIO; Clare Brook, Founding Partner and also a former Henderson head of SRI; Ted Franks, Partner and Associate Fund Manager; Ty Lee, Senior Analyst; and Jade Summer, Investor Relations Manager for WHEB Group.
“We believe the arrival of the Henderson team is transformational for the development of WHEB Asset Management,” says Clare Brook, Founding Partner. “This team is highly regarded within the fund management industry when it comes to investing in sustainability themes. We are delighted to welcome them to WHEB Asset Management.”
WHEB Group is a London headquartered investment group with three divisions which focus on investing in sustainability and clean-technology opportunities in private equity, renewable energy infrastructure and listed assets. WHEB Partners, the cleantech private equity business, raised its first fund in 2004 and a second fund in 2008. WHEB Asset Management’s regulated fund, the IM Sustainability Fund, was launched in 2009. WHEB Infrastructure invests in renewable energy infrastructure assets in Europe.
“By pursuing three highly complementary investment strategies, WHEB Group benefits from unrivalled synergies as it invests in the major themes of this century,” says James McNaught-Davis, Chief Executive of WHEB Group. “WHEB Partners is a private equity firm which funds the growth of companies providing technologies that enable the more efficient utilisation of energy, waste, water and other resources. WHEB Infrastructure invests in renewable energy generation projects across Europe including solar parks and wind farms. And WHEB Asset Management, which we believe now has the best team in the business, invests in publicly listed securities with a ‘sustainability’ theme. WHEB’s three investment divisions are all positioned to benefit from the transformations brought about by global resource scarcity and climate change.”
About the new team:
George Latham, Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer at WHEB Asset Management -
was formerly Head of SRI at Henderson Global Investors. He managed the Henderson Global Care Managed Fund and the Henderson Global Care UK Income Fund for over ten years.
Tim Dieppe, Partner and Fund Manager at WHEB Asset Management -
joined the SRI team at Henderson Global Investors as Fund Manager in 2004, where he established the pioneering “Industries of the Future” investment process for global equities.
Seb Beloe, Partner and Head of Sustainability Research at WHEB Asset Management -
joined the SRI team at Henderson Global Investors as Head of SRI research in 2008, where he led the development of an integrated approach to sustainability analysis. He previously spent nine years as Head of Research at SustainAbility.
Hyewon Kong, Senior Analyst at WHEB Asset Management -
joined the SRI team at Henderson Global Investors in 2007 and was most recently an Associate Fund Manager, working closely with Tim Dieppe managing the "Industries of the Future" funds. Prior to this Hyewon worked as an SRI analyst at Henderson and Jupiter Asset Management.
About WHEB Asset Management
Clare Brook, Founding Partner -
began managing sustainable and environmental funds at Jupiter Asset Management in 1990. In 1994 she and her team moved to NPI where they established the Global Care range of funds. They increased funds under management from 0 to £1bn over the space of 6 years. The team then moved to Henderson and then, in 2001, established the Sustainable Future range of funds at Morley.
Geoff Hall, Chairman -
was formerly Chief Investment Officer at Allianz Insurance PLC. He brings over 35 years of investment experience to the team. In a career entirely focused on institutional fund management, Geoff has managed equity portfolios for British Railways Pension Funds, HSBC Mutual Funds and Life Assurance funds amongst others. For the last 15 years he has personally managed UK portfolios investing in environmental and green issues.
Ted Franks, Partner and Associate Fund Manager -
trained as an accountant at KPMG, winning the Helen Somerville prize in the ICAS examinations. He has 5 years’ corporate finance experience at KPMG and Dresdner Kleinwort, specialising in the utilities and renewables sectors. He has advised on transactions with an enterprise value in excess of €15bn in the renewables, water, waste and energy and healthcare sectors.
Ty Lee, Senior Analyst -
holds a Masters in Finance graduate from London Business School. He has three years’ corporate finance experience at UOB Group and two years’ work experience at Accenture. At UOB Group, he advised on M&A and IPO transactions in various sectors. He is a CFA Charterholder, with bachelor degrees in Business Administration (Information Systems) and Software Engineering.
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