IS THE ÓSKARE FUND I ESG COMPATIBLE?
YES. Óskare Capital will avoid investing in companies pertaining to, or involving, business activities and sectors that are illegal or could lead to reputational risks. Our strategy involves a proactive consideration of ESG factors in investments.
HENCE:
- We will not invest in pure growing activities or in distribution of non transformed cannabis
- We will not invest in companies operating in geographies where cannabis related research or commercial activities are illegal
- We will not invest in directly or indirectly in recreational or “adult use” cannabis
HOW IS ÓSKARE FUND I ESG COMPATIBLE ?
Óskare Capital will avoid investing in companies pertaining to, or involving, business activities and sectors that are illegal or could lead to reputational risks. Our strategy involves a proactive consideration of ESG factors in investments.
During our investment selection and due-diligence process we will assess each investment opportunity using the ESG criteria:
- Environmental and agricultural risks
- Social risk: Serious infringement of relevant international standards or agreements relating to human rights, labor and employment, bribery and corruption; tax haven countries; drug abuse, money laundering
- Governance:
- The exercise of fiduciary duty: it includes the duty to treat each investor equitably and fairly and to act in the best interest of the Funds we manage
- The advisory board role in corporate compliance programs, resolution of conflicts of interest issues
- Tax avoidance: this will never be a motivation for investments or behavior in governing bodies
- Executive compensations: fairly determined and reviewed regularly to align the interests of management and the investors
AND MEDICAL CANNABIS IS ESG COMPATIBLE
Large institutional investors that are quite stringent on ESG are now investing in medical and therapeutic cannabis as well as wellness applications using cannabinoids:
- In 2018, the Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund (AP4) with a fund capital of SEK 391 billion as of June 30, 2019 removed medical cannabis from its exclusion list
- In June 2019, the Commissioner of the Church of England (with an endowment of £8.4 billion) recently announced that it will consider investing in cannabis companies with a sole medical purpose
- Vanguard Group, Morgan Stanley Canada, and BlackRock Institutional Trust Company are a few of the institutional investors with exposure to the cannabis industry
- In 2018, Canada’s Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP) and the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) acquired shares in medical cannabis producers
- 13 US State Pension Funds* invested in Innovative Industrial Properties (NYSE: IIPR) that has 1.8 million square feet of space that’s leased to medical marijuana operators in states that have legalized cannabis