Liontrust Responsible Capitalism Report 2024 - Flipbook - Page 39
Escalating issues with companies
The escalation of issues with companies is determined by and is
in keeping with each investment team’s investment process. In the
instance where an investment team (or the Responsible Capitalism
team on their behalf) escalates engagement with a holding, this
may be because:
the approach (although each investment team may have its own
escalation process):
• the holding, for any number of reasons, did not provide
satisfactory information during previous engagement(s) on the
particular issue or topic
Escalation (step 2): focused dialogue on a particular issue with
executives (which may include the Chair of the Board and/or the
SID, where appropriate) of a holding; the investment team may
state its preference or feedback on the management of a particular
issue
• the exposure of a holding to a particular issue for which
engagement has been undertaken has increased, posing
potentially greater concern to the investability and/or profitability
of the holding
• the team considers shareholder value to be threatened or at risk
for a particular reason or due to a particular issue
What escalation might look like
For those teams whose investment processes incorporate an
escalation approach for engagement, the following may illustrate
Normal level: discussion with senior management and/or executives
of fund holdings on matters of importance to the investment team,
as determined by the team’s investment process
Escalation (step 3): In the instance that a desirable outcome is
not achieved through escalation, then Liontrust’s investment teams
may choose a stronger stance, with continued engagement with the
executives of the holding. Some issues may take a number of years
to resolve; where an investment team decides to remain invested, it
may choose to reduce the weighting in the holding. In any event,
the investment team will continue to monitor the issue.
Investment teams and their processes
Liontrust investment teams each apply their own distinct investment processes to the management of their funds and portfolios. The following
section looks at the teams, their processes, their ESG components (where applicable), engagement examples, and the AuMA each team
has dedicated to Liontrust’s net zero commitment (where appropriate).
As at the end of December 2022, Liontrust’s investment teams were:
Sustainable Investment
Economic Advantage
Multi-Asset
Global Fundamental
Cashflow Solution
Global Equity
Global Innovation
Global Fixed Income
Note on carbon data
At the end of each investment team section, there is a note on
which funds, if any, a team has contributed to Liontrust’s net zero
commitment. Where funds are listed, the funds’ respective reference
benchmarks used for MSCI ESG analysis are also listed. Since the
Group first reported this information in August 2022, a few of
these reference benchmarks have changed and these changes are
footnoted, accordingly.
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