Institutional Asset Manager Newsletter 20.01.23

News from the ether… and from Kana Earth

Welcome to IAM’s second newsletter of the year and one which covers a host of issues from space tech investment to carbon offsetting and asset manager acquisitions.
The UK’s much anticipated attempt to be the first European nation to launch satellites into space ended in failure this month but that has not stopped asset managers espousing the virtues of investment in the sector.
Tom Bailey, head of ETF research at HANetf, issuer of the Procure Space UCITS ETF (YODA) tell us that Virgin Orbit’s failed mission represents only a setback for the sector.
Bailey says: "Virgin Orbit will not derail the wider forces that make the space sector appealing, whether it’s increased demand for data, geopolitical competition or the increased involvement of private companies."
I suspect readers will have to - pardon the pun - watch this space.
Carbon offsetting is also in the news week with an exclusive from Beverly Chandler on Kana Earth’s launch of an investment platform to help asset managers identify which projects are worth backing, and which may be less legitimate.
A detailed ledger of UK landowners with early-stage carbon offsetting projects will "provide unprecedented levels of transparency in terms of overall goals and carbon reduction targets for the schemes, and how these will be achieved".
The timing is certainly pertinent as a Guardian investigation into Verra – the world’s leading carbon offsetting standard – revealed that "more than 90% of their rainforest offset credits among the most commonly used by companies are likely to be ‘phantom credits’ and do not represent genuine carbon reductions".
In M&A news, asset management service provider Waystone has bought fund administrator and fiduciary services provider Centaur Group.
In a boon for Dublin – where Waystone’s employees will join their new Centaur colleagues – the acquirer says the transaction will "significantly broaden its service offering to asset managers and their investors and represents the first time a third-party management company (ManCo) has moved to integrate a fund administrator to complement its service offering versus the established route of fund administrators adding management company services".
Gill Wadsworth, Editor

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