Jeffrey Ubben
Source: BusinessWire
Jeffrey Ubben of ValueAct Capital reportedly left the company he founded in 2000 to focus on full-time socially responsible investing, according to a new Financial Times report.
Ubben will launch a new fund called Inclusive Capital Partners, according to the Financial Times, where he will be joined by two former ValueAct colleagues and the CEO of the Rothschild Coalition for Inclusive Capitalism Forester.
The move is not entirely out of left field as Ubben has managed the company’s socially responsible fund, known as the ValueAct Spring Fund, since its launch in 2018. It will continue to oversee the fund as its new company kicks off, it reported. the Financial Times. .
When the fund was launched, he noted that beyond social benefits, there are also financial benefits, by putting more emphasis on how companies are adapting to the changing world around them.
“Not only can you do a social good, but you will capture excess return by identifying and investing in businesses that emphasize and address environmental and social issues,” he wrote in a letter to his limited partners in 2018.
The move comes at a time when investors are increasingly focusing on ESG, or environmental, social and governance factors.
“The finances are done. Everyone has bought everyone else with low-cost debt. Everyone has maximized their margin. They have bought back all their shares … There is nothing there. Each industry has about three players. Elizabeth Warren is right, “Ubben told the Financial Times.
BP and Nikola Corp. are among the companies in which the ValueAct Spring Fund has invested.
Ubben previously told CNBC that stocks like BP may belong to socially responsible portfolios, since as an investor you can push for significant change.
“They can be part of the solution. They can move to carbon and hydrogen capture and whatnot with their capital spending to become a company of the future,” he said of BP in March.
CNBC contacted ValueAct for comment, but received no immediate response.
– To read the full Financial Times article, click here.
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