PGIM, the US$1.38 trillion global investment management business of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), has enhanced its equities offering with the launch of the PGIM Jennison Better Future Fund (the “Fund”). The Fund is a sub-fund of the Irish-domiciled UCITS fund umbrella, PGIM Funds plc, and is available to institutional and wholesale investors.
Managed by PGIM’s active equity manager, Jennison Associates, this thematic global equity portfolio seeks to invest in high growth companies where the duration or magnitude of the growth is being underestimated, and which align to a select group of UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Fund invests in companies that Jennison believes have disruptive technologies or services and exhibit dynamic new product development, and whose market opportunity is expanding.
Through a bottom-up stock selection approach, the global portfolio has a concentration of 25-40 companies, with no maximum or minimum limit on country or sector weights. While the Fund strategy is benchmark-agnostic, the Fund’s performance is benchmarked against the MSCI All Country World Index.
The investment team is led by Mark Baribeau, head of Global Equity, and Rebecca Irwin, portfolio manager and equity analyst, at Jennison Associates. The portfolio management team averages nearly 20 years of experience at Jennison and is supported by its global growth sector analysts and sustainability research team.
“The Better Future Strategy launched in March 2022 as a natural extension of the Jennison Global Equity team’s long-term record of successfully investing in global growth companies”, Baribeausaid. “Our aim is the pursuit of healthy revenue and profit growth, in companies that are helping to create more sustainable and inclusive growth. The Fund therefore also aligns with several United Nations’ Sustainability Development Goals and incorporates these into its analysis at all times.”
Matt Shafer, head of International Distribution, PGIM Investments, said: “We are launching the Fund in response to strong demand from our international clients to continue to deliver long-term investment returns while contributing towards a more sustainable and inclusive world. We believe that companies which address global challenges will experience rising demand for their products and services.”
The Fund is classified as an Article 8 fund under the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR). The investment team incorporates analysis of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors into its investment process. The Fund’s investment process also includes a number of ESG-related exclusions.
It is intended to initially register the Fund for sale in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore (institutional investors only), Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. The registration status of the Fund is available at pgimfunds.com.
