Northern Trust Selected by Osmosis Investment Management to Support Fossil Fuel Free Common Contractual Fund

Northern Trust today announced it has been selected by Osmosis Investment Management (Osmosis) to provide fund administration, global custody and depositary services for the Osmosis Resource Efficient Core Equity (ex-fossil fuels) Fund in a Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) Common Contractual Fund (CCF).

The strategy, which Osmosis developed amid growing investor appetite to remove carbon risk from investor portfolios, will allow institutional investors to target an uncorrelated source of sustainable alpha from their core equity exposure, with a positive environmental focus. This latest addition to its suite of resource efficient strategies brings Osmosis’ ex fossil fuel assets under management to over US$600 million.

The appointment extends the relationship between both organizations – Northern Trust supports several Osmosis funds, including the Osmosis Resource Efficient Equity Market Neutral Fund, launched in 2018.

The CCF is a tax-transparent fund vehicle, allowing its underlying investors to benefit from double taxation treaties to reduce withholding taxes in markets that recognize transparency as if they held the assets directly. Created in 2004 as a solution for cross-border pension fund pooling, tax-transparent funds have developed as an optimum vehicle for asset managers to facilitate cross-border distribution of funds to institutional investors.

Northern Trust services US$297 billion in tax-transparent funds globally (as of 31 December 2020) and its expertise in administering European tax-transparent fund vehicles was among the key reasons for its appointment.

Ben Dear, CEO at Osmosis Investment Management, said, "As we further expand our fund range to meet client demand for sustainable investment strategies, we need to partner with organizations able to deliver flexible, efficient servicing solutions for our investors. Northern Trust’s expertise in supporting tax-transparent fund structures, allied with its ability to deliver pan-European servicing solutions, aligned strongly with our plans for the launch and development of this fund.”

Clive Bellows, head of Global Fund Services Europe Middle East Africa at Northern Trust, comments, "We are delighted to extend our relationship with Osmosis and support them in executing this fund launch. In this case, the use of a CCF supports our client’s growth and distribution strategy – allowing them to draw on the benefits of tax-transparency for their investors and help bring this fund efficiently to market.”

The Osmosis UCITS CCF is supported by Prescient Fund Services (Ireland) Limited (Prescient), which serves as its Irish regulated UCITS management company. Prescient also serves as alternative investment fund manager to the Prescient CCF, also supported by Northern Trust. Osmosis manages Prescient’s original CCF sub-fund, which is regulated under the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD).

Rob Childs, head of Business Development at Prescient, added, "Osmosis has been an important client since it launched its first Irish fund on the Prescient UCITS platform in 2012, and we congratulate Ben and his team on their new UCITS CCF and impressive achievements to date.”

Northern Trust’s Global Fund Services business provides fund administration, global custody, depositary, investment operations outsourcing and revenue enhancement solutions to global investment managers – supporting an extensive range of complex investment strategies across the full spectrum of asset classes.

About Osmosis
Osmosis launched in 2009 and is a sustainable asset management business headquartered in London with firmwide assets under management of ~$2.0bn as of 31 December 2020. Government Pension Funds, State Pension Funds, Insurance Companies, Foundations, Endowments, Family Offices and Banks, are amongst its client roster spanning North America, Continental Europe, Nordics, the UK, and Australia.

The Osmosis Model of Resource Efficiency (MoRE) is a proprietary investment database developed and maintained by the team at Osmosis. The MoRE model allows Osmosis to create an objective, sustainable, alpha generating investment factor, through the identification across thirty-two economic sectors of global large cap companies which are generating more revenue whilst consuming less resource than their sector peers. The company’s systematic investment strategies and funds target an improved risk-return profile whilst, importantly, delivering significantly reduced environmental footprints to their relative benchmarks. www.osmosisim.com

About Prescient
Prescient Fund Services (Ireland) Limited is a limited liability company incorporated under the laws of Ireland having its registered office at 35 Merrion Square East, Dublin 2, Ireland and is authorised by the Central Bank of Ireland as a UCITS management company pursuant to the European Communities (Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities) Regulations, 2011 (S.I. 352 of 2011) as amended and as an AIFM pursuant to the European Union (Alternative Investment Fund Managers) Regulations 2013 (as amended). As of December 31, 2020, Prescient Fund Services had assets under administration or management of over USD 30 billion globally, of which Prescient Fund Services (Ireland) Limited had over USD 3.9 billion. Prescient Fund Services has over 120 employees globally. www.prescient.ie

About Northern Trust
Northern Trust Corporation (Nasdaq: NTRS) is a leading provider of wealth management, asset servicing, asset management and banking to corporations, institutions, affluent families and individuals. Founded in Chicago in 1889, Northern Trust has a global presence with offices in 22 U.S. states and Washington, D.C., and across 23 locations in Canada, Europe, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region. As of December 31, 2020, Northern Trust had assets under custody/administration of US$14.5 trillion, and assets under management of US$1.4 trillion. For more than 130 years, Northern Trust has earned distinction as an industry leader for exceptional service, financial expertise, integrity and innovation. Please visit our website or follow us on Twitter.

Northern Trust Corporation, Head Office: 50 South La Salle Street, Chicago, Illinois 60603 U.S.A., incorporated with limited liability in the U.S. Please read our global and regulatory information.

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