Impax Asset Management, a UK-headquartered equity fund management firm which focuses on environment and resource scarcity-themed ideas, has confirmed the launch of a food and agriculture fund.

The open-ended fund is targeting an annual yield of over 3 per cent through investing in a concentrated portfolio of companies across the full value chain of the food and agriculture sector. It is seeking volatility at around the same level as the broad equity markets.

Impax, like many other investment houses, such as Switzerland’s Sarasin, has singled out the problem of feeding the world’s burgeoning population and scarcity of resources as long-term investment themes. Factors such as population growth, urbanisation, rising consumption, the depletion of limited natural resources, technological innovation and policy regulation bode well for the new fund, Impax believes.

Running the fund jointly are Michael Landymore and Simon Higgo, the former holding responsibility for developing the food and agriculture related investment strategy, while Higgo oversees the vehicle’s investment infrastructure.

The management fee for the fund’s “A class” shares will be 1 per cent, but this is capped at 0.6 per cent until the end of 31 December.

In September last year, Impax announced that it had opened a US institutional sales and client service headquarters in New York. At the same time, the firm appointed David Richardson as managing director and head of institutional sales and client service for North America.