SKAGEN is a Norwegian fund management company with a long and successful history managing equity and fixed income funds. SKAGEN is part of Storebrand Asset Management, but remains an independent investment boutique reporting to its own Board. At the start of 2019, SKAGEN and Storebrand launched a combined sustainability policy that will guide firms within the group for the future. The new policy builds on international laws, norms and conventions, but also takes in some specific industries and products that we have deemed unsustainable in a changing world. The sustainability policy builds on SKAGEN’s and Storebrand’s combined strengths – Storebrand being at the forefront of sustainability at large, and the active engagement and dialogue work that lies at the heart of SKAGEN.
For SKAGEN, teaming up with Storebrand also means increased capacity and access to a larger team of leading sustainability specialists, working together and learning from both companies’ experiences. Together, the two companies will have more weight when engaging with companies and will have more time to concentrate on those aspects that are most relevant to investment performance. As SKAGEN is committed to a future that our clients can look forward to, we are convinced that the new policy and more focused engagement will lead to even better-informed investment decisions going forward and will be vital in creating value for clients in the group as a whole.
Our key contribution to achieving this is thus two-fold: We seek to generate the best possible risk-adjusted returns for our clients, while not compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. An integral part of our investment analysis is evaluating the sustainability of potential and current investments. This is done because we believe that companies which understand and utilise sustainability in their business strategy, will outperform their counterparts over the longer term. Investing sustainably is thus essential in order to achieve the best possible risk-adjusted returns for unit holders.
A sustainable approach to investing is important if we are to be good long-term stewards of our clients' capital. Integrating sustainability factors into our investment process allows us to make better-informed investment decisions, and provides a more comprehensive view of each individual investment case. Our sustainable investment policy applies to all our funds, portfolios, asset classes and investment styles. It builds on what SKAGEN and Storebrand have learned from over twenty years of integrating sustainability analyses across asset classes and geographies.