The latest offerings in investments, such as funds and structured products, and other notable developments.

Octopus Investments
Octopus Investments has launched the FP Octopus UK Future Generations Fund, its first retail fund with a sustainable investment mandate since the business was founded in 2000. The new fund will invest in businesses that are tackling some of the world’s most pressing challenges, including climate change, revitalising healthcare industries, and increasing access to digital infrastructures to improve daily lives.

The fund will open with an annual management fee of 0.85 per cent, depending on the share class, and an ongoing charges figure of 1.50 per cent. Ten per cent of the annual management charge will be donated to Octopus Giving, the charitable foundation the firm set up 2014 to support UK-based charities addressing health and other challenges.

The issue of overhauling social and healthcare services in the UK came back into sharp relief this week as the government announced raising NI contributions to help pay for reform.

The UK Future Generations Fund will be managed by Dominic Weller, who sits on the firm’s responsible investment committee, and co-managed by Richard Power and Chris McVey, lead managers respectively of the FP Octopus UK Micro Cap Growth Fund and the FP Octopus UK Multi Cap Income Fund.
 
Octopus has a deep history of leading investments in smaller UK companies and is one of the largest providers of VCTs, EIS and BPR-qualifying investments.
 
“So far, most of the ESG and sustainability focused funds to launch have shown a bias towards investing in larger companies. Limited and flawed ESG data, especially on smaller companies, exacerbates this problem and has led to many funds avoiding companies which do not tick the right boxes altogether. This is a missed opportunity,” Weller said.

The certified B Corp manages around £10.6 billion for retail and institutional investors.