Mamadou-Abou Sarr, Co-Founder and President, V-Square Quantitative Management joined Keith Black, Managing Director, RIA Channel to discuss V-Square’s differentiated approach to ESG integration and the investment thesis behind thematic ETFs, VMAT and VDNI.
V-Square Quantitative Management launched in 2020 with the mission of reimagining sustainable investing. V-Square focuses its investment approach around key ESG factors that are material and drive performance. Through quantitative and research-driven analysis, V-square aims to help investors avoid ESG blind spots and efficiently access investment opportunities.
Sarr explains two important trends in ESG. First, ESG is not an asset class, but a way of evaluating the risk and future opportunities of stock and bond investments. Second, ESG has become somewhat politicized and focused on a narrow view of negative screening in the energy sector, says Sarr. V-Squared takes a more pragmatic approach, and chooses to focus on the subset of ESG factors that are most relevant to corporate results.
The V-Shares MSCI World ESG Materiality and Carbon Transition ETF (VMAT) invests in US and Canada-based companies that are identified as leaders in the global mission to mitigate carbon emissions or are positioned to benefit from the energy transition. VMAT tracks the price and yield performance of the MSCI World ESG Materiality and Carbon Transition Select Index (Ticker MXESGMTN). This ETF provides exposure to large and mid-cap developed market companies that focus on the financial impacts of sustainability.
The V-Shares US Leadership Diversity ETF (VDNI) is an all-cap strategy which seeks to invest in U.S. based companies with broad ethnic and gender representation for Directors and Named Executive Officers (NEO). Human capital is one of the most important inputs that you can have, explains Sarr, pointing to diverse leadership as a key performance driver. VDNI seeks to track the price and yield performance of the ISS ESG U.S. Diversity Index Total Return (Ticker ISSDIVUT).
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V-Shares US Leadership Diversity ETF (VDNI)
V-Shares World ESG Materiality and Carbon Transition ETF (VMAT)
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