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April 02, 2008
Three New SRI Funds from Pax World
by Anne Moore Odell
Sustainable investing pioneer Pax World adds Global Green, International, and Small Cap Funds to
its SRI family of funds.
SocialFunds.com --
Pax World's family of funds has grown to
eight with the recent launch of three new mutual funds: Pax World Global Green Fund, Pax World
Small Cap Fund, and Pax World International Fund. Portsmouth NH-based Pax World will apply the
same rigorous environmental, social, and governance (ESG) screens to the new funds that all its
funds enjoy.
 "I am sure most investors and financial
advisors would consider the Small Cap Fund and the International Fund to represent core asset
classes in today's investment environment," said Joe Keefe, president and CEO of Pax World. "But
we believe that's true to some degree about the Global Green Fund, as well. I think sustainable
investors want to invest in environmental leaders and environmental markets, and environmentally
focused businesses and technologies will become more and more attractive investments in the years
ahead."
The Pax World Global Green Fund will include any company the fund's manager
considers to be an "environmental leader." Impax
Asset Management, headquartered in London, is the sub-advisor on the fund, lead by Impax CEO
Ian Simm.
"When we decided to launch a global environmental fund we did a lot of due
diligence and met with several potential portfolio managers," said Keefe. "We are thrilled to be
launching the fund with Impax as its sub-adviser. Impax Asset Management is among the most
experienced and highly regarded asset management firms with a specialty focus on environmental
markets. They have significant sector experience and a strong track record."
Pax World
hopes that the Global Green Fund enables investors to benefit from potentially rapid and sustained
capital growth in environmental markets. Its holdings will focus in three areas: alternative
energy and energy efficiency; water treatment and pollution control; and waste technology and
resource management.
"The fund allows investors to gain exposure to leaders in
environmental technology and solutions - including alternative energy - without the volatility
sometimes associated with more narrowly focused, alternative energy funds," Keefe told
Socialfunds.com.
Investors interested in long-term growth can tap into the new Pax World
International Fund, which will buy stocks in non-US companies. Ivka Kalus-Bystricky, the fund's
manager, has been given a lot of leeway to scour the globe to find international companies that
pass Pax's ESG screens and that could lead to long-term growth.
"We think it's important
to have a broad market international fund that can go anywhere in search of companies of any size
in growing sectors, regions and economies around the world," Keefe said. "Investors looking for
international exposure in their portfolios do not necessarily want to be limited by capitalization
constraints, or growth vs. value considerations, or other style box issues. They simply want to
diversity and take advantage of the fact that other economies and regions sometimes have better
growth opportunities than the US market."
Keefe continued, "So, in launching an
international fund, we decided on a strategy that hope will have broad investor appeal. In
particular, there are companies around the world that are doing interesting things from a
sustainability or ESG perspective, and we want to offer more of these types of investments to our
shareholders."
"With the falling dollar and slowed growth in the US market, we expect that
investors will continue to search for diversification globally," said Keefe.
The Pax Small
Cap Fund is a domestic fund focused on small-capitalization companies but by prospectus it may
invest up to 45% of its assets in foreign securities and American Depositary Receipts (ADRs).
Nathan Moser, who previously was a portfolio manager at Citizens Funds, manages the Small Cap Fund.
Moser looks for small-cap companies with strong management that embrace innovation to
include in the Fund. At least 80% of the Small Cap Fund's net assets will be in equity securities
of companies with market capitalization in the range of $262 million to $2.5 billion.
Keefe told SocialFunds.com that Pax World started each of the three new funds with start-up
seed investments in the $1 million to $1.5 million range.
"I think we are witnessing the
mainstreaming of sustainable investing," Keefe reported. "As more investors see the benefit of
integrating ESG factors into financial analysis and decision-making, there will be - and already is
- rising demand for sustainability or ESG-focused investment strategies. At Pax World, we are busy
rolling out new product because we see increased demand. We want to provide investors with more
opportunities to integrate sustainability concerns into their investment portfolios, and we hope
these three new funds will help us do that."
©
SRI World Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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