Water and Waste: The dual investment opportunity
We opened up with Gavin White, Head of UK Intermediary Sales, taking us briefly through the opportunity we have seen in Water and Waste, which encouraged us to bring Bertrand and Saurabh to Regnan 12 months ago. He then went on to discuss Regnan, and their history and position within J O Hambro Capital Management.
Water is essential for life on earth, and is a precious yet underappreciated and undervalued resource. It is used in nearly all forms of economic activity, including food production, industrial manufacturing, textiles, energy production and materials extraction; put simply ‘there is no economy without water’, yet ‘there is no sustainable economy without waste management’.
Regnan is the specialist sustainable and impact investing brand of the Australian-listed asset manager Pendal Group, which encompasses J O Hambro Capital Management, Thompson, Siegel & Walmsley and Pendal Australia. Regnan’s focus is on delivering innovative solutions for sustainable and impact investment, leaning on over 20 years of experience at the frontier of responsible investment. “Regnan” is a registered trademark of Pendal. J O Hambro Capital Management has been the lead in distributing the Regnan investment strategies to clients.
Regnan started life in 1996 in academia at Monash University in Australia, as the Monash Centre for Environment Management. This academic background has always stayed with Regnan as a core part of their DNA. The Monash Centre for Environment Management became Monash Sustainability Enterprises, and started to offer advisory services and support to businesses and investors on ESG, sustainability and stewardship issues. They have also worked with bodies like the UN PRI to support their work. By 2007 the business had outgrown its academic roots, and became Regnan, offering fully fledged investment advisory services and research; and in 2020 they launched their first investment product: the Regnan Global Equity Impact Solutions Strategy, managed by Tim Crockford. This history in academia and grounding in research is key to everything Regnan do, and informs how they think about the world and invest. Deep thinking goes into understanding the complex systems in which we function, and how sustainability and ESG decisions are never simple. By appreciating the full complexity of a decision, the team are better able to invest, and consider how we can make a measurable impact through our investment actions.
Pendal Group ownership structure