Sarasin & Partners presents three core specialist capabilities of particular relevance to public sector pension funds:

  • Sustainable Investment
    Sustainability is a key management principle as well as a core offering to our clients. The concept of Sustainable Investment embraces ethical, socially responsible, and environmental investment strategies, and is of interest to a wide range of trustees and officers of Public Sector Pension Funds and Charities. Sarasin Sustainable Investment is one of the largest SRI managers in Europe, with a specialist team of 17 analysts and dedicated fund managers managing over £1 billion of assets. Taking a truly global approach to sustainability in both equities and bonds, the portfolio is invested in companies and countries which contribute to sustainable development. They distinguish themselves through their strategic focus on environmentally friendly, eco-efficient management and proactive relations with stakeholder groups.
  • Thematic Global Equities
    Whereas most investment managers approach international investment from a country or an industry perspective, Sarasin & Partners’ core global equity portfolios place the emphasis instead on investing in companies that are expected to be the main beneficiaries of the key global trends driving corporate profits growth and share prices. In recognition of the limitations of geographically determined asset allocations in today’s global economy, the assets are allocated by global themes which track long term worldwide growth trends that are largely independent of any one region or market. This approach has achieved strong out performance of the MSCI World Index over ten years.
  • Global Real Estate
    Commercial property is currently seeing an extraordinary metamorphosis – transforming from a physical asset to a financial asset. The introduction to the UK of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), a new breed of stock exchange quoted property companies, provides flexible access to large property portfolios and removes the problems of illiquidity, large unit sizes and high transaction costs associated with direct property investment. REITs are available in many other countries across the world providing the opportunity to diversify into new areas of much faster rental growth. REIT markets are also seeing the development of effective derivative contracts providing the opportunity for property risks to be hedged and managed in a much more flexible way.

However, global property is a new investment area and few fund managers have the complete global expertise, experience, research base and risk management capabilities to fully exploit it. Sarasin have been real innovators in global property, being the first to launch a global REIT fund in the UK in 2004, which is now one of largest in the UK. With an experienced team and an intricate knowledge of the market, supported by a network of property agents in all the major markets around the world, Sarasin is able to provide you with the expertise you need in this exciting new asset class.

We also invest across a broad range of other institutional asset strategies including:
 
  • Balanced Strategies
  • Target Return Strategies
  • UK Equities
  • Global Emerging Markets equity
  • Fixed Income
  • UK & Global High Yield Equity Income

Background

Sarasin & Partners is the UK investment management arm of Bank Sarasin & Co Ltd, one of Switzerland’s leading private banks. Established in London since 1983, the company is majority owned by Bank Sarasin, with the UK management owning 25%. Sarasin & Partners manages £6.1 billion of assets for charities, pension funds, institutions and private investors, with a staff of just over 100 (as at 31 Dec 2006).

Rabobank, the world's only remaining AAA/Aaa rated commercial bank is the majority shareholder of Sarasin with a 46% stake in its equity capital and 69% of its voting rights.

Contact

For more information about Sarasin & Partners’ services for pension funds, contact Henry Boucher on +44 (0)20 7038 7000.