Ping An of China Asset Management (Hong Kong) Company Limited (“PAAMC HK”), the offshore asset management platform of Ping An Group, is proud to announce that the Ping An of China Asset Management Fund – China Green Bond Fund (the “Fund”) has been named the “ESG Fixed Income Fund of the Year (Asia)” at Environmental Finance’s Sustainable Investment Awards 2024. This marks the third time the Fund has received this prestigious accolade, having also won the award in 2021 and 2023.
According to the judging panel, the Fund was recognized for its strong returns of 5.5%[1] in 2023 – a challenging year for green bond funds – through careful credit selection and by maintaining a relatively defensive portfolio duration of 2.8 years at the end of the year. Over the past 12 months, the Fund has diversified its holdings by increasing exposure to higher-quality regions in North Asia, such as South Korea and Japan, while also increasing the overall portfolio yield to take advantage of higher front-end yields to mitigate end-cycle rate volatility[2].
The Fund has made changes in reference to the EU taxonomy to align closer with major international standards, in addition to using the Climate Bonds Initiative taxonomy as its primary guidepost. As a result, the Fund has reduced exposure to natural gas-related bonds. The judges also noted the Fund’s ongoing commitment to data collection and aggregation at a project and company level, including key metrics such as carbon emissions reduced and renewable energy capacity and generation.
“We are deeply grateful for the recognition.” said Mr. Albert Wang, Head of Capital Markets and CIO of PAAMC HK. “Receiving this award for the third time is a testament to the consistent excellence and impact of the fund. As China has become a major player in green finance, with the world’s second-largest green bond market, Chinese green bonds not only offer higher yields compared to developed market counterparts, but also provide valuable diversification to global bond portfolios. Our investment team’s deep expertise in identifying the highest quality green bonds with attractive yields in this rapidly expanding market has been instrumental in delivering consistent outperformance for our investors, even amidst challenging market conditions.”
The 2024 Sustainable Investment Awards, organized by Environmental Finance, recognize asset managers, analysts and data providers incorporating ESG across all asset classes – fixed income, listed and private equity, debt funds, multi asset funds, infrastructure funds and fund of funds.
