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

Global Palladium
Global Palladium Fund has launched four physically-backed metal exchange traded commodities (ETCs) on the London Stock Exchange. The ETCs offer total expense ratios from 0.145 per cent to 0.20 per cent and are listed on the Deutsche Börse this week, with further European listings to follow, the group said.

Physically backed by gold, silver, platinum and palladium, the ETCs will track the spot price of the respective metals and target family offices, wealth managers, institutional and other professional investors.

NTree International is leading distribution of the funds, which have a strong ESG focus, sourcing metals from suppliers who conform to the UN Sustainability goals, it said. The group said investor appetite for commodities is increasing, helped by the cyclical recovery from the pandemic.

“This is the second listing of our ‘physically backed’ metal ETCs, which aim to give investors the opportunity to invest in metals that have a key role to play in the transition to a net zero carbon economy,” Alexander Stoyanov, chief executive of Global Palladium said. The group launched five years ago under the Russian parent Norilsk Nickel.

“As a mining company, providing access to metals to a broader range of market participants helps improve market liquidity and price discovery” the firm’s VP of sales and distribution Anton Berlin, added.

Norilsk Nickel is the world’s largest producer of palladium, high-grade nickel and a major producer of platinum, copper, precious metals and rare earths, used across a raft of technology components in areas such as aerospace, electronics, and the automotive industries. It has operations in northern Russia, Finland and South Africa.

Quaero Capital
Quaero Capital completed its fundraising for Quaero European Infrastructure Fund II (QEIF II) at €600 million, beating its initial €500 million target set at its launch in July 2019. The management company is also expecting additional investment capacity given the strong interest from investors for co-investment opportunities, the firm said. 

Fundraising for Quaero’s previous €275 million investment vehicle ended in April 2017 and the fund has since been fully invested.

QEIF II’s strategy is to finance equity in both “greenfield” and brownfield infrastructure projects in Europe. The fund targets project finance assets and notably assets with development and growth requirements with a view to supporting it. It invests in energy, telecoms, water and environment projects, social infrastructure, transport, and utilities.

QEIF II investors include leading European investors, notably insurance companies, pension funds, funds of funds, the Fonds de Réserve pour les Retraites and the European Investment Bank.