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A new global fund that invests in the world’s top clean-energy companies is to be launched in Canada today by Criterion Investments Ltd., which sees huge opportunity in efforts to “de-carbonize” the environment.
Ian McPherson, president of Criterion, an affiliate of VenGrowth Asset Management Inc. of Toronto, said clean energy has matured beyond being a niche sector that until recently could only be tapped by seeking out and placing bets on individual companies.
“The sector has matured; it’s no longer nascent,” said McPherson. “You have very strong capital flows and now there’s some investment management talent in the area, whereas historically there’s been a real shortage.”
The timing is right to launch a managed fund, he said. “It’s on people’s radar screens. Clean energy has more mainstream acceptance.”
The company is billing the RRSP-eligible Criterion Global Clean Energy Fund as the first Canadian fund of its kind focused on the clean-energy theme. Geneva-based Pictet Asset Management SA is investment adviser for the “high-risk” fund, which the Swiss company launched in May and is currently available throughout Europe and parts of Asia.
Phillipe de Weck, senior fund manager from Pictet, said in a phone interview from Geneva that concern over climate change and a worldwide drive to reduce greenhouse gases, backed by ambitious government targets and incentives, has primed the sector for long-term growth.
“We believe it will outperform the economy as a whole,” he said, pointing out that the fund has jumped 7 per cent in its first four months compared to a drop of 2 per cent on the MSCI World Index, which measures the performance of market indices in 23 developed countries.
“We’re at the phase where policymakers have set targets, and now they have to move to the next stage where regulations are needed to move to those targets,” he added. “We want to take advantage of that, and we think it’s a long-term trend. The transition to clean energy is a trend that will last our lifetime.”
The fund was most recently invested in 59 companies, about 40 per cent located in the United States. Top 10 holdings included wind giants Gamesa and Vestas, and solar suppliers Suntech Power and Q-Cells.
Three Canadian companies are currently in the fund: hydropower developer Plutonic Power of Vancouver; wind and hydro developer Canadian Hydro Developers Inc. of Calgary; and Westport Innovations Inc., a developer of natural gas and hydrogen combustion engines in Vancouver.
De Weck said natural gas fits within the theme because it’s an important “transition fuel” to clean energy, though the fund doesn’t invest in nuclear power technologies or providers.
“The safety and waste issues are still unresolved,” he said. “Yes, there are plans for more nuclear, but let’s be realistic. We’ve been in a nuclear winter in terms of skills and expertise. We haven’t had that brain influx in the field and we simply don’t have the experience.”
Nicholas Parker, co-founder and chairman of the Cleantech Group, a provider of research and investor services targeted at the clean technology sector, predicted the Criterion fund would be received well in Canada.
“Canadian retail and institutional investors have been underserved in this space relative to their European and American counterparts, so I think this is going to meet demand,” he said.
Parker’s group launched a Cleantech Index in partnership with the American Stock Exchange last year that tracks more than 70 publicly traded U.S. companies in the sector. He said his main concern is that the Criterion fund is focused on clean energy and excludes technologies aimed at cleaning up water and soil, reducing waste and creating “green” materials.
Limiting the fund to just energy makes it more volatile, he argued. “Which is why we’re advocating the broader cleantech space.”
Last October, PowerShares Capital Management LLC launched an exchange-traded fund (ETF) based on the Cleantech Index.
Like most ETFs, the fees are more affordable than managed funds – for example, 0.7 per cent for the PowerShares fund compared to between 2.65 per cent and 2.75 per cent for the Criterion fund, which is near average for the mutual fund industry.
McPherson said the Criterion fund adds value by being actively managed. “Our portfolio manager will be trading to take a view on valuation, whereas those ETFs are a static portfolio for certain periods of time and don’t take into account if something is undervalued or overvalued as an index.”
So far, however, the passively managed PowerShares fund, while traded in U.S. dollars and vulnerable to foreign exchange exposure, is performing well – it’s up more than 20 per cent since its launch 11 months ago.
Since mid-May, when the Pictet fund was launched in Europe, the PowerShares fund has increased nearly 9 per cent.

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A new global fund that invests in the world’s top clean-energy companies is to be launched in Canada today.

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