ESG Investing - Online Course

ESG Investing
A Four-Part, Online Course

Date: 19^th - 22^nd June 2023

Overview of ESG Investment Activity
Exclusionary vs Positive Screening
ESG Integration and Thematic Investing
Impact Investing and Active Ownership

Equity Analysis with ESG Exposure
Fixed Income Analysis with ESG Exposure
Construction and use of ESG Indices
Measuring and Managing ESG Investment Risk

WHY THIS COURSE?

ESG-based investment vehicles have gained enormous prominence in the past two years. The ESG premium on the S&P500 has gone from negative to positive, where it has stayed for over a year. Why is this so and what are the forces at play that has made this happen? This program explores the main investment themes and goes into detail with the most popular ESG indices. According to a recent Bloomberg Intelligence report, global ESG-based investment assets will top USD50trn by 2025, when total global assets under management (AUM) will reach USD140trn. These staggering forecasts underline the importance attributed to this fundamental change to investment management.

This program offers the informed intermediate learner eight sessions packed with information and the opportunity to ask questions and discuss answers.

The first session outlines the breadth and depth of ESG-based investments in terms of types of asset owners, types of funds and size of investment portfolios (AUM). The following three sessions describe, contrast and analyze the six different ESG strategies professional investors apply in practice. Session five looks at how traditional equity investment analysis changes as a result of ESG elements in the portfolio. A major element in this session is the debate around how the perpetuity element in CAPM valuation will change and how to quantify it. Session six asks the same question as in session five, only this time focusing on fixed income investment analysis. It is reasonable to assume that bond spreads will change, thus driving valuation changes, but how will this process be driven? Session seven discusses the use of ESC indices in portfolio allocation and performance appraisal. A small number of actual index calculations will be performed for illustration. The final session brings participants to discuss practical approaches to managing ESG investment risk in a portfolio, whether by controls, guidelines or sanctions.

Key Takeaways and Learning Objectives:
- After this course, participants will be able to:
  - Describe the size of and the players in the ESG investment market
  - Discuss positive and negative screening strategies and to which extent they lead to portfolio tracking errors
  - Explain the main benefits and several disadvantages of integrating ESG fully into existing investment portfolios
  - Describe ways investment managers can exert direct ESG influence over companies through impact investing or active ownership
  - Discuss corporate ESG activity as either an excess cost or an insurance premium when analyzing returns
  - Analyse corporate CDS and credit spreads in light of ESG exposure and determine whether bond ratings are sustainable
  - Explain the composition of an ESG-based investment index and describe a broad range of index families
  - Explain the extent to which an investor is exposed to ESG investment risk when investing in non-compliant securities

Fee

1 participant: RM4,000/$1,100
2 participants: RM8,000/$2,200
3 participants: RM12,000/$3,300
4 participants: RM16,000/$4,400
5 participants: RM20,000/$5,500

Discounts are available for group bookings. Please contact us for more details.

In-house/group training

If you are looking for an in-house training program or wish to send a group to an existing public program, kindly please contact Andrew Tebbutt at [email protected] or +603 2162 7802.
Learn More

For enquiries please contact:

Normariya Sariman
Account Manager, REDmoney Seminars
[email protected]
Direct Line: +603 2162 7800 ext 44

Ramesh Kalimuthu
Events Sales Director
[email protected]
Direct Line: +603 2162 7800 ext 65
Fax: +603 2162 7810

For sponsorship & speaking opportunities:

Andrew Tebbutt
Managing Director
[email protected]
Direct Line: +603 2162 7802

For marketing and media enquiries

Govina Selvanthran
Marketing Manager
[email protected]
Direct Line: +603 2162 7800 ext 22

ESG Investing
A Four-part, online course

Date: 19^th - 22^nd June 2023

7.00am - 10.00am
UK

10.00am - 1.00pm
UAE

2.00pm - 5.00pm
Singapore/KL

Overview of ESG Investment Activity
Exclusionary vs Positive Screening
ESG Integration and Thematic Investing
Impact Investing and Active Ownership

Equity Analysis with ESG Exposure
Fixed Income Analysis with ESG Exposure
Construction and use of ESG Indices
Measuring and Managing ESG Investment Risk

WHY THIS COURSE?

This program offers the informed intermediate learner eight sessions packed with information and the opportunity to ask questions and discuss answers.

Key Takeaways and Learning Objectives:
- After this course, participants will be able to:
  - Understand the key real-life tenets of ESG in relation to managing assets and funds
  - Assess the regulatory environment for ESG investing globally
  - Understand the important and significant risk factors of climate finance
  - Discuss how ESG principles and practices can be practically incorporated into investment philosophies and processes
  - Assess the effective use of data in the asset valuation process and understand the use for metrics and screening
  - Understand performance measurement techniques for ESG investing
  - Review and understand the workings and principles of carbon accounting

WHO WILL BENEFIT?

Fund accountants
Fund administrators
Portfolio analysts
Performance attribution managers NAV reporting staff
Wealth management sales staff
Corporate bankers operating in the ESG space
Any IMC certificate holder, who wishes to improve their ESG skills

Program Format

This four-part training program will be delivered online through a stable, secure and free-to-access platform. The program itself will be delivered through lectures, worked examples and case studies in order to ensure a detailed and practical understanding of the program content. Participants will have plenty of opportunity to ask questions and interact with the program director. Login details and program materials will be sent to participants upon receipt of payment

Fee

1 participant: RM4,000/$1,100
2 participants: RM8,000/$2,200
3 participants: RM12,000/$3,300
4 participants: RM16,000/$4,400
5 participants: RM20,000/$5,500

Discounts are available for group bookings. Please contact us for more details.

In-house/group training

If you are looking for an in-house training program or wish to send a group to an existing public program, kindly please contact Andrew Tebbutt at [email protected] or +603 2162 7802.
Learn More

AGENDA AND FORMAT

Each session will be interactive in a seminar format, with participants encouraged to engage with questions throughout.

PLATFORM

A four-part online program will be delivered online through a stable, secure and free-to-access platform. The program itself will be delivered through lectures, worked examples and case studies in order to ensure a detailed and practical understanding of the program content. Participants will have plenty of opportunity to ask questions and interact with the program director. Login details and program materials will be sent to participants upon receipt of payment

AGENDA

The program is highly interactive and will encourage participation through exercises and case studies that the delegates will solve individually or in small workgroups. These activities are designed to allow delegates to practice and to consolidate the concepts that will be discussed during the lectured sessions of the program. The program will focus on the practical realities of the market, rather than taking an excessively mathematical or academic approach.

Part 1

Session 1: Overview of ESG Investment Activity
- NBIM – The Norwegian Oil Fund
- Morningstar Sustainability Investment Funds Screener
- Bloomberg predictions for ESG AUM by 2025
- Discussing the largest dedicated ESG funds
Case study: Fund investment in ESG instruments

Session 2: Exclusionary vs Positive Screening
- Is exclusionary screening the same as ‘cancel’ culture?
- Supply chain analysis by major industry – Scope 1 vs 2 vs 3
- Does screening destroy or enhance ‘asset allocation’?
- Is positive screening only practical for dedicated portfolios?
- Tracking error

Part 2

Session 3: ESG Integration and Thematic Investing
- Full integration - higher returns with lower ESG risk?
- Data quality challenges
- Prediction of timing and frequency of ESG events
- Analyst expertise in the securities selection process

Session 4: Impact Investing and Active Ownership
- What is impact investing? Recent examples
- Proxy voting and shareholder resolutions
- Engagement with companies vs class-action lawsuits
- ‘Wall Street Walk’ threat vs hedge fund activism

Part 3

Session 5: Equity Analysis with ESG Exposure
- Is ESG cost seen as a reduction in profitability?
- Is ESG seen as an insurance against corporate disasters?
- Calibrating the perpetuity element in DCF valuation
- Converting waste into resources (example: desalination)

Session 6: Fixed Income Analysis with ESG Exposure
- Are traditional bond ratings sustainable?
- Bond valuations under ESG uncertainty – analysis and calculation
- Analysis of ‘Green’ bonds
- CDS and credit spread behaviour through an ESG lens

Part 4

Session 7: Construction and use of ESG Indices
- MSCI ESG Index family
- S&P DJI Index family
- Examples of ESG index calculations
- Performance comparisons to non-ESG indices

Session 8: Measuring and Managing ESG Investment Risk
- How to deal with potential exposure to sanctions and fines
- What is the investment cost of a corporate ESG breach?
- Adherence to fundamental operational risk principles
- Assess internal controls, guidelines and sanctions

EXPERT COURSE DIRECTOR

Christian Thornæs

Christian delivers training to blue chip investment and commercial banks across Europe, North America, Asia and the Middle East - ranging from specific one-off courses to complex programs designed to fit corporate strategic objectives.

Examples of programs Christian has delivered recently include:
1. Advised a major air traffic control operator how to structure payments, guarantees and funding for tender bids for contracts in countries where ECA support is a requirement.
2. Carried out an intervention for the new head of a credit structuring team at a Chinese-South African JV investment bank focusing on credit risk mitigation, covenant structure and ECA support.
3. Delivered a program to senior management of one of the major Exim banks to familiarise them with credit operations at private sector banks with whom they work actively.

Before beginning his training career, Christian worked as an investment banker and financial engineer in London and Hong Kong. His main responsibilities were to structure and sell new financial products to clients on both the issuer and the buy side. He was involved in ECA-backed transactions, including buyer and supplier credits, as well as forfaiting structures and also worked on the due diligence on the original MTS/London Thamesport financing.

Christian has an MBA from INSEAD, France as well as a BA and a M.Sc. (Econ.) from Copenhagen Business School, Denmark.