BGF ESG Multi-Asset E2 USD H

Analyst Report
Morningstar's Take
|21/10/2024

by Thomas De Fauw
The team at the helm of BlackRock ESG Multi-Asset has thoughtfully evolved the strategy and navigated multiple market environments successfully since the fund’s repurposing into an environmental, social, and governance format in March 2019. Its team earns an Above Average People rating thanks to its experience and proven abilities in portfolio building, while our Process Pillar rating is Average. We are following closely how the team rebounds from its recent performance difficulties.

This fund, previously named BGF Flexible Multi-Asset, is one of many strategies run by BlackRock’s London-based Diversified Strategies Group. Jason Byrom and Conan McKenzie took over in May 2018, and Lamiaa Chaabi was added to the management roster in March 2024. Both had been part of the portfolio management team for some years, McKenzie since 2012 and Byrom since 2015. Chaabi moved to the Diversified Strategies Group in early 2016. They are part of an 11-strong supporting team of researchers, ESG specialists, and portfolio managers, and they can tap into the extensive network of experts within BlackRock.

Although the managers have plenty of leeway in setting their equity weightings, in practice they tend to keep equity risk close to the strategic 50% weighting. Within equities, the selection of sleeves and their weightings continuously evolve. At end-August 2024, the largest allocation was an ESG-screened equity portfolio from BlackRock’s systematic equity team. The other key pillar of the equity portfolio remains a high-conviction equity portfolio of companies with strong or improving ESG credentials managed by an internal London-based team. In 2024, the managers added a global unconstrained equity sleeve managed by Alister Hibbert, while an actively managed impact equity portfolio was dropped from the list in 2023. The managers also use exchange-traded funds, derivatives, and thematic baskets to express their views. As is typical for sustainable funds, the portfolio tends to have a growth leaning stemming from the sector biases of good ESG performers.

With yields rising, the team has limited the portfolio’s fixed-income weighting and built it even more around an ESG-themed credit portfolio managed out of London. On top, sleeves in commodities and volatility trades and closed-ended funds with a sustainability angle may provide diversification at times. Liquidity on this sleeve bears watching, but the team has broadened the number of investments to alleviate those concerns as fund size has grown.
 
Morningstar Medalist Rating™Solid team behind an ESG-focused benchmark-aware portfolio.
To find out how Morningstar rates a fund click here.
Morningstar Pillars
PeopleAbove Average
ParentAbove Average
ProcessAverage
 
Morningstar Medalist RatingMorningstar assigns the Medalist Rating to funds that are qualitatively and quantitatively assessed through manager research and algorithmic processes. The assessment turns on three key “pillars” – People, Process, and Parent – that yield an estimate of how well a fund will perform before fees but after adjusting for risk.
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