London-based boutique asset manager Osmosis has been awarded a contract to run a US$4.5 billion sustainable investment strategy for Dutch state pension fund Pensioenfonds PGB. The firm will oversee the pension fund’s global equity portfolio which looks to offer environmental benefits and higher returns than the MSCI World index through investment in companies that score well on metrics including carbon emissions, water consumption and waste output. The mandate sees Osmosis’ assets under management double to US$9 billion, with the firm already responsible for similar ESG strategies for Oxford university’s endowment fund, Australia’s Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation, and Danish pension fund PKA. This mandate is structured similarly to Osmosis’ US$730 million Resource Efficient Cote Equity fund, which has delivered annual net fee returns of 9.6% since its 2017 launch, surpassing the MSCI World index’s return of 8.7% over the same period. Ben Dear, Founding Partner at Osmosis, said the deal was “the outcome of 14 years of work by [the firm] and many years of engagement and collaboration with a smart, dedicated team and supportive Board at PGB”.
