Dutch pension fund manager Achmea Investment Management (IM) is set to launch a dedicated corporate green bond fund by the end of 2024 as the market has matured to be “very similar” to the conventional corporate bond market.
The €190 billion ($206 billion) asset manager told Environmental Finance it will launch the Achmea IM Euro Corporate Green Bond Fund “later this year” after the “explosive” growth of corporate green bonds in recent years.
The fund launch is the first dedicated green bond strategy from Achmea IM since it launched its flagship €1.2 billion Achmea IM Euro Green Bond in 2018.
Achmea IM portfolio managers Viktor Stunnenberg, Martijn Hesterman and Lars Laumen said the firm has launched the fund after the euro-denominated corporate green bond market has “now become a larger, mature and more diversified market”.
“In the past, we have argued that the diversification within corporate green bonds was not yet sufficient [to launch a dedicated fund],” they said. “At the time, corporate green bonds were mainly issued by financials and utilities. This is no longer the case. Although the aforementioned sectors still dominate, we also see issuance from other sectors such as consumer companies.”
Achmea IM said this has been helped by the fact that the green bond market has “grown considerably in recent quarters” and now represents around 11% of the total Euro-denominated debt market.
According to Environmental Finance Data, between €140 billion and €160 billion has been raised each year since 2021 through Euro-denominated green bonds from corporate and financial issuers – including more than €145 billion in 2024 to date.
Achmea IM’s Stunnenberg, Hesterman and Laumen said that the euro corporate green bond market also now has characteristics which are “very similar” to the broader bond market.
For example, the average credit rating is ‘A-/BBB+’ for both markets with the average duration of 4.3 for corporate green bonds and 4.6 for the conventional bond market. What is more, yield spreads are “comparable and even slightly higher for green bonds”.
Companies:Achmea Investment Management
