ATR Asset Management’s (ATRAM) Sustainable Development and Growth Fund (SDGF) marked its first anniversary last February with the distinction of having the third highest return among Peso Equity funds in the Philippines in 2021.

The SDGF ended its first full year with a return of 21% – beating its benchmark of the Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi) by over 18%. The SDGF is the first Unit Investment Trust Fund (UITF) in the Philippines that is designed to incorporate the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) in its investment process. The Fund selects and invests in companies that continuously improve sustainability aspects in their business as measured by ATRAM’s proprietary sustainability research.

ATRAM’s Chief Investment Officer (CIO), Phillip Hagedorn notes, “We are very proud that our sustainability investment strategy’s first anniversary returns are validating our belief that sustainability investing is the future of fundamental investing. To provide long-term returns to investors, we invested in companies that we view are ahead in integrating sustainability in their corporate strategy and operations. With the SDG Fund as one of our top-ranking funds in 2021, we feel confident in using our sustainability research in selecting the best performing stocks in the long-term”.

To Hagedorn, this is just the beginning. “The SDG Fund performed amazingly in its first year. This is a good start, but the Fund aims to be more every year. We also want it to be an instrument of change in firm and investor behavior towards sustainability. The investment process of this fund is not static and will continue to improve how it incorporates environmental and social aspects material to the Philippine stock market and economy in general.”

In 2021, ATRAM received the Editor’s Triple Star at The Asset’s Triple A Sustainable Investing Awards while ATRAM Wealth has been awarded a Editor’s Triple Star for Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) initiatives.