The latest offerings in investments, such as funds and structured products, and other notable developments.

LGIM
LGIM is launching the L&G Clean Energy UCITS ETF to tap the rising demand for green energy solutions and broaden investor exposure. Available to UK and European intermediary and retail investors, the fund is designed to invest in companies at the forefront of the UN’s SDG 7, which aims to substantially boost affordable and clean energy by 2030. The fund will be rebalanced twice a year to stay on top of trends across the clean energy sector, which includes component suppliers, wind and solar original equipment manufacturers, and producers of solar, wind, biopower, hydro/ocean power, and geothermal technologies.

Commenting on the launch, Howie Li, head of ETFs at LGIM, said that put in the context of devastating wildfires, demand for action on the streets, and COVID-19, "we believe the market for clean energy is poised for secular long-term growth." The new product should give investors "cost-effective exposure to a unique and diverse basket of stocks that are integral to the world’s growing embrace of cleaner energy,” he said.

The ETF joins LGIM’s existing thematic range of eight specialist funds, which include the $1.86 billion L&G Cyber Security UCITS ETF and $1 billion L&G ROBO Global Robotics and Automation UCITS ETF.

Victory Hill
Global energy infrastructure specialist Victory Hill Capital Group intends to float a closed-end investment company, VH Global Sustainable Energy Opportunities, on the London Stock Exchange in January 2021.

The entity will invest in a globally diversified portfolio of sustainable energy infrastructure investments that support the energy transition and are aligned with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, London-based Victory Hill said.

The portfolio will be diversified across different proven technologies and across geographies to reduce underlying risks, it said. 

The listed fund aims to generate stable returns, principally in the form of income distributions, and targets a total return on net asset value of 10 per cent per annum once fully invested. GSEO aims to raise up to £400 million ($528 million) in the initial placing.

Victory Hill, founded in May 2020, has been set up by a team of energy financiers which previously worked for Mizuho Bank, a large project finance banking group. Numis Securities Limited is acting as sponsor and sole bookrunner in relation to the IPO.