News Index

Search for news:

Sumitomo Trust & Banking to Offer Nikko AM’s SRI Fund Date: July 16, 2010

ASrIA Member

(Nikko Asset Management) - Nikko Asset Management Co., Ltd. (Nikko AM) (Timothy F. McCarthy, Chairman & CEO) announced today that it will launch a new open-ended investment trust “Green Balanced Fund” (nickname: “Green Green”) and will begin its management on July 30. The Sumitomo Trust & Banking Co., Ltd. will accept applications from July 16. This is the sixth fund from Nikko AM to be offered by Sumitomo Trust & Banking*2. The Green Balanced Fund is Japan’s first balanced environmental fund and invests in environment-related bonds and equity*1. The environment presents pressing issues that human beings of today must address, but solving them on a global scale requires advanced technological capabilities and huge amounts of funding. As more leading countries introduce environmental and energy policies and step up their efforts to implement them, Nikko AM believes that the environmental sector will achieve dramatic growth in the years to come. We expect that the development of the environmental sector will not only contribute to the reduction of environmental impacts and the solving of environmental problems, but also drive the world economy, mainly through technological innovation and job creation.

The Green Balanced Fund emphasizes environmental initiatives during the selection of stock and bonds for incorporation, and aims at steady growth of its trust assets by combining two attractive traits: the stability of bonds and the growth potential of stocks. The bond part of the Fund will invest in bonds that yield a relatively high return, such as those issued by international agencies like the World Bank, national governments, government agencies, and other organizations with a high credit rating, and a high weighting will be given to environment-related bonds, whose issuers use the funds raised for environment-related projects. As for the equity part, it will principally consist of stocks related to three environmental issues that are the subject of

worldwide attention: global warming, water, and biological diversity. Specifically, the Green Balanced Fund will invest in four funds of funds: one for bonds and three for equities – one for each environmental issue mentioned above.

100715NikkoAM.pdf