Nov22526 Fund Awards 2023 | Wealth & Finance Aug23372 Best Boutique Emerging Markets Investment Manager 2023 & Most Pioneering in Debt Investment ESG Integration 2023 Between 1995 and 2007, Morten Bugge and Søren Rump, CoFounders of Global Evolution, were colleagues at two different Danish banks. There, they were responsible for establishing and building emerging markets asset management businesses and launching Scandinavia’s first public emerging markets fixed income funds. During this time, they recruited and managed a team of 12 professionals while they worked to grow assets from $100 million to $6.25 billion. In 2007, Morten and Søren decided to leave their previous company to found Global Evolution, an emerging and frontier markets investment manager. Today, the company manages approximately $10 billion in emerging and frontier markets investments, primarily for institutional investors across the world. These investments are offered through pooled funds and segregated accounts. Global Evolution is equipped with a dedicated team of investment professionals and research analysts who have a wide range and extensive depth of experience in the emerging and frontier markets investment industry. On average, its team members each have 16 years of relevant experience, predominantly gained from Emerging Market Debt investing. This adds up to an incredible amount of combined industry experience, which is highly unique in the field. Additionally, the original investment management team have worked together for more than 15 years, making them an extremely stable unit. Furthermore, since its establishment in 2007, the team at Global Evolution have garnered profound experience investing in frontier markets. This is not only a potential alpha generator but also provides valuable diversification in a portfolio context. Impressively, the company’s dedicated Frontier Markets Fund is rated 4 stars by Morningstar. In capturing the inefficiencies of frontier markets, Global Evolution believes that its most important asset is its experienced investment team. Often, frontier markets are under-researched, meaning that it is possible for dislocations to occur. To understand the value of Global Evolution’s highly experienced team, one must look no further than the historical returns of its award-winning Frontier Markets Strategy, which has provided its clients with a gross return of 7.29% p.a. (as of 31-08-2023) since its inception in 2010, all while consistently maintaining low volatility. Generally, this strategy has performed very well, even under unfavourable market circumstances. It also proved especially effective in tackling the unprecedented economic distress and uncertainty created by the COVID-19 pandemic; in 2021, it returned gross 10.86% p.a., when most emerging market fixed income indices had negative absolute performance. Global Evolution also focus on ESG integration. The company is committed to leaving behind a legacy of sustainability investing by helping developing nations break free from poverty. For this reason, over the years, Global Evolution has consistently considered ESG factors in its investment process. It does this both quantitatively through its proprietary model’s framework, and qualitatively through positive engagement with policymakers, investee companies, and other stakeholders. Global Evolution’s innovative ESG approach is designed to go beyond ESG levels, which are highly correlated with countries’ income and development levels. By favouring high ESG levels, investors direct capital away from the countries where it is needed the most to improve socio-economic conditions. They also risk missing out on a mountain of promising investment opportunities. Through its significant quantitative research effort, Global Evolution has discovered a strong business case for considering ESG dynamics as part of the investment process, since they are statistically correlated with returns. Therefore, the company’s ESG approach involves searching for the best investment opportunities through its proprietary fundamentals-based and sentiment-based methodologies, which send signals for long-term strategic and short-term tactical decisions respectively. In the future, Global Evolution intends to continue to invest in the development of this research framework. The company has begun integrating Artificial Intelligence technologies into the model’s framework and has plans to continue adding more novel technologies to its toolkit. For example, it believes that the opportunity to adopt new AI-based technologies like natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML) will drive it to integrate ESG into its investment processes more efficiently by enabling it to analyse the sustainability of its investment universe in a more timely and accurate manner. Overall, Global Evolution believes that it can effectively meet the needs and goals of its clients thanks to its excellent processes and With offices across the world, Global Evolution is a boutique emerging and frontier markets investment management company that serves a global client base of institutional investors. Known for its benchmark agnostic approach and its innovative use of ESG variables, the company is committed to achieving its mission statement: “Excellence in Providing Emerging & Frontier Markets Solutions”. Here, we dive into Global Evolution’s establishment, its innovative services, and its vision for the future.
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