Baillie Gifford Positive Change: Can impact investing pay off for investors over time?

The fund has struggled in the short term but its longer-term performance is more impressive

As the economic backdrop has deteriorated so investor appetite for investments with a focus on ESG (environmental, social, governance) factors has dipped.

Shares recently chatted to Baillie Gifford Positive Change Fund’s (BYVGKV5) Rosie Rankin, about the case for investing to achieve a positive impact after a difficult period performance-wise for the fund.

The investment strategy revolves around four impact themes says Rankin: ‘We have social education and inclusion, environment and resource needs, healthcare and quality of life and finally we look at companies which provide solutions at the very bottom of the income ladder.’

Rankin says astonishingly that approximately four billion people in the world earn less than $3,000 a year. The fund also invests across a range of asset classes which could add to its attractions for an investor who wants to gain exposure to the ‘impact investing’ approach.

Range Of Asset Classes

‘Positive Change covers: infrastructure, fixed income, private equity and public equity. Impact investing is incredibly exciting it terms of offering people the ability to have an investment return and contribute to a more sustainable world,’ says Rankin.

The fund invests in a range of companies from those in the ‘early investing stage’, to those in a ‘start up’ phase, to those which are ‘long-term established’. Rankin says: ‘We give absolutely no guarantee on investment returns what we do say is that we invest in 35 exceptional businesses. They will be businesses at every stage of evolution, for example Moderna (MRNA:NASDAQ), we invested