Partnering on a New Mutual Fund

Aperio helped a large religiously-affiliated fund sponsor provide investors with the first MSCI ACWI ex US index fund with a socially responsible screen.

Challenge:

Fund sponsor had several goals for the new fund offering:

  1. Include lower cost exposure to both developed and, for the first time, emerging international markets
  2. Achieve more predictable returns relative to the benchmark
  3. Ensure the investment portfolio adhered to its rigorous social values criteria - also known as Socially Responsible Investing (SRI)

Aperio Solution:

Aperio developed a custom MSCI ACWI ex US portfolio with social screens. Despite the extensive SRI-based customization requested by the fund sponsor, Aperio created an investment solution with minimal tracking error to the index benchmark. To ensure the most cost efficient portfolio possible, Aperio recommended a combination of ADRs and Ordinary securities. Aperio was selected as the sub-advisor.

Impact:

Fund sponsor launched the first SRI product to track the MSCI ACWI ex US Index, expanding the available universe of SRI products to include low cost access to emerging markets.