Thematic Investing and Secular Trends: July 2021
Post-Pandemic and Secular Trend Investing
The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated some trends and instigated others, and the impacts may last for years. Much increased working from home is an immediate consequence, but the potential impact it may have on real estate investment and inner-city environments may prove to be both long-lasting and profound. ESG investing has, over the last couple of years, morphed into becoming an essential consideration for most asset managers and is an investment trend with real momentum. Meanwhile, advancement of technology and ongoing digitalisation continues apace, affecting many aspects of our lives.
This selection of papers looks at thematic and secular trend investing in greater detail across a wide range of topics, at how the pandemic may have revolutionised healthcare, its impact on the future of city real estate investment and the interaction companies may have on water availability. A comprehensive paper from the Roland Berger Institute highlights what many consider as the key megatrends likely to continue to shape the world for decades ahead.
The Great Instability: Megatrends for the 21st century (BNP Paribas, Jul 2021)
BNP Paribas AM looks at some of the effects of the pandemic across economies and society. Both transformative and disruptive, the Covid-19 crisis and subsequent transition creates opportunities across the likes of healthcare, technology, and sustainability, to name just a few.
Megatrends Shaping the Coming Decades (Roland Berger, 2020)
This Trend Compendium from Roland Berger looks at six megatrends which are likely to shape the world over the coming decades.
Water: Systemic and unpriced risk to opportunity (Impax Asset Management, 2021)
Impax Asset Management demonstrates how access to water ranks with climate change and loss of biodiversity as one of the most critical challenges facing mankind. Defining what impact portfolio companies have on water availability is a key challenge but is one investors need to address.
Video: Sustainable growth – A new approach to ESG (Baillie Gifford, 2021)
ESG investing has certainly turned into a recent trend with a great deal of momentum. Baillie Gifford Partner Stuart Dunbar tells why he thinks too many practitioners follow metrics-based approaches which may not support the transition to a more sustainable society.
The Connected Revolution Through an ESG Lens (RBC GAM, 2021)
For compliance reasons, this paper is only accessible in certain geographies
RBC GAM’s Emerging Markets Equity team looks at the rapidly expanding technology industry and the key ESG related opportunities and challenges that present themselves across what is a complex interface.
Carbon Neutrality in Real Estate (MetLife Investment Management, Jul 2021)
MetLife Investment Management outlines the growing trend towards carbon neutrality from the real estate industry, its varied commitments and whether these realistically amount to very much.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution (Janus Henderson, Jun 2021)
For compliance reasons, this paper is only accessible in certain geographies
Hamish Chamberlayne, Portfolio Manager and Head of Global Sustainable Equities, explains why the world is entering a decade of transformation and how digitalisation, electrification and decarbonisation will play increasing roles in the future.
Video: Spotting Disruptive Technologies (S&P Dow Jones Indices, Jun 2021)
In this video S&P Dow Jones Indices examines how a new set of indices is designed to capture structural changes to the global economy by focusing on companies with significant exposure to the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Podcast: What remote work means for the future of city real estate (CBRE, 2021)
CBRE’s Global Chief Economist Richard Barkham and Urbanist Richard Florida explore the future of the city, the trend of urbanisation and how remote working may be just the latest in a series of evolutions, transformations, and reinventions that cities go through over time.
Leveraging Thematic Investments in Portfolios (WisdomTree Investments, 2021)
For compliance reasons, this paper is only accessible in the UK & Europe
WisdomTree Investments suggests that thematic funds do not tend to conform to traditional investment classifications, which makes portfolio allocations more difficult. They suggest three innovative approaches for the use of thematic funds as both strategic and tactical investments.
Genomic Testing and the Future of Medicine (Wellington Management, Jul 2021)
In this paper from Wellington Management, they explore the future of genomic testing and the therapies that it enables, while considering the likely impact on the health care system in its entirety.
