By Wendy Spires Group Deputy Editor in London From Wealth Briefing

A new asset management firm has entered the fray in Amsterdam called Ownership Capital – a name which its founders say speaks to its “ownership investing” approach.

Ownership Capital has been founded by Sir George Buckley, the former chairman and chief executive of US manufacturer 3M, and Alex van der Velden, the former head of responsible equity strategies at Dutch asset management giant PGGM.

Ownership Capital will be run by the former PGGM team that managed a €3 billion ($4 billion) in-house mandate. The firm’s initial focus will be managing a longer time horizon vehicle investing in North American and European equities for international institutional investors, with a target fund size of €2 billion.

Looking specifically at the types of names the fund will target, Ownership Capital has said it will supplement standard fundamentals research with an “extra-financial research process” which will single out companies which perform well on corporate governance, environmental and social issues. Engagement with companies’ management will follow the same lines as the process which van der Velden and his team initially developed at PGGM.

WealthBriefing understands that Ownership Capital is starting off with a staff of eight, with plans to expand its analytical team soon.

The launch of Ownership Capital forms part of a wider trend toward sustainable investment approaches following the financial crisis. While previously detractors may have shunned practices like negative screening, arguing that narrowing the available investment universe impairs returns too much, advocates of sustainable investing argue that companies which are well run in environmental, social and governance (ESG) terms are often the most profitable and least risky over the long term.

“The Kay Review criticised an often disengaged and short-termist investment approach which undoubtedly contributed to the financial crisis. Shareholders have an opportunity and, we believe, a responsibility to foster a long-term approach and a consideration not just of short-term financial matters, but also factors related to the governance of companies, and their social and environmental impacts,” van der Velden, partner and chief investment officer at Ownership Capital, said in a statement.

“Our experience has shown that ‘ownership investing’ not only contributes to better corporate governance and sustainability, it ultimately generates higher investment returns.”

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