Nanuk Asset Management has expanded its portfolio management team with the appointment of John Lobb from Insync.
Lobb joins Nanuk from Insync Funds Management where he worked as a global equities portfolio manager and senior analyst.
Previously, he worked for Orion Asset Management, Credit Suisse Global Asset Management and Citigroup Global Asset Management.
He is based in Sydney and starts at Nanuk on 17 July, working with chief investment officer Tom King and portfolio managers Binya Even, Jane Henderson, Tristan Patience, Peter Wilmshurst and Marie Miyashiro.
The team is focused on opportunities arising from environmental sustainability and resource efficiency, and the long-term trends in those areas.
King said: “John’s experience will improve our capacity to research the expanding numbers of opportunities related to the emerging ‘sustainability revolution’, and his focus on quality and growth will complement the approaches of our existing team.
“It is an exciting time for sustainably themed investment, with technologies such as electric vehicles, renewable energy and the internet of things moving from infancy to maturity, and new opportunities emerging in areas such as hydrogen, carbon capture and storage, and artificial intelligence.”
Dan Powell, Nanuk head of distribution, said: “Investor and financial adviser demand for sustainable investment continues to grow due to several key factors—investor preferences, regulatory mandates, corporate pledges, increasing recognition that climate factors impact investment performance, and that significant change at a global level creates investment opportunities and risks, which all contribute to this trend.”
King recently appeared on an edition of Money Management’s Relative Return podcast where he discussed Nanuk’s dislike of the term ESG and how advisers can get engaged with sustainable investing.
“It’s just an acronym and it gets used very loosely to describe a whole series of different things that can be done together but aren’t all compatible, and ultimately can’t be done well at the same time,” he said.
“Anyone dealing with clients who want to shape their investments by their values or want to ensure that their capital is allocated into particular things or not into other areas, those conversations and delivering those outcomes can happen without using an acronym that confuses everyone.”
