Alpha-Centric ESG Research

Kyle Rudden

Life Insurance Corporation of India / ESG

Life Insurance Corporation of India (LICI IN)

<ul>
<li>Life Insurance Corporation of India's (LIC) imminent IPO is momentous in many ways foremost of which is the sheer magnitude... poised to become the largest IPO in India's history.</li>
<li>Momentous from an ESG perspective too. LIC's pursuit of pre-IPO ESG ratings is commendable, precedent-setting, and long-term positive for LIC as a company and India and a country.</li>
<li>Near-Term, pursuing pre-IPO ratings could backfire. Nothing major, but LIC could simply tell its ESG story to investors without (for now) ratings; the desired benefits without the risks.</li>
</ul>


Life Insurance Corporation of India's (LIC) imminent IPO is momentous in many ways foremost of which is the sheer magnitude... poised to become the largest IPO in India's history.
Momentous from an ESG perspective too. LIC's pursuit of pre-IPO ESG ratings is commendable, precedent-setting, and long-term positive for LIC as a company and India and a country.
Near-Term, pursuing pre-IPO ratings could backfire. Nothing major, but LIC could simply tell its ESG story to investors without (for now) ratings; the desired benefits without the risks.


Life Insurance Corporation of India's Pursuit of Pre-IPO ESG Ratings Is Positive, But With Some Risk

Two days ago the U.K. Financial Reporting Council announced 125 successful signatories (aka "not greenwashers") to the revised U.K. Stewardship Code. Signatories are integrating stewardship and ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) factors into investment decisions, to high standards.Whilst this is ostensibly limited to U.K. pension assets, ramifications are more far-reaching than it might at first appear (one indication is the number of North American and Asia Pacific signatories, in addition to the expected European names). More specifically, the broad relevance is because it:<ul>
<li>Affects firms doing business with U.K. asset managers/owners not just the managers/owners.</li>
<li>Is a quasi-blueprint for similar anti-greenwashing initiatives taking root in the U.S. and Asia.</li>
<li>Greenwashing is having an increasing impact on stocks prices (e.g., DWS Group last month).</li>
</ul>This is one battle in an emerging global war on greenwashing. The U.S. SEC has its own agenda to fight greenwashing and Asia isn't far behind (e.g., regulators in Japan stepping up scrutiny). There is more to come, and a lot to learn from this including who is (and is not) on the signatory list.

Two days ago the U.K. Financial Reporting Council announced 125 successful signatories (aka "not greenwashers") to the revised U.K. Stewardship Code. Signatories are integrating stewardship and ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) factors into investment decisions, to high standards.Whilst this is ostensibly limited to U.K. pension assets, ramifications are more far-reaching than it might at first appear (one indication is the number of North American and Asia Pacific signatories, in addition to the expected European names). More specifically, the broad relevance is because it:
Affects firms doing business with U.K. asset managers/owners not just the managers/owners.
Is a quasi-blueprint for similar anti-greenwashing initiatives taking root in the U.S. and Asia.
Greenwashing is having an increasing impact on stocks prices (e.g., DWS Group last month).
This is one battle in an emerging global war on greenwashing. The U.S. SEC has its own agenda to fight greenwashing and Asia isn't far behind (e.g., regulators in Japan stepping up scrutiny). There is more to come, and a lot to learn from this including who is (and is not) on the signatory list.

The War on Greenwashing: UK Stewardship Code "Successful Signatories" Has Broader Implications

Technical Analyst, Vermilion Research

Joe Jasper

Technical Analyst

Technical and Quantitative Research

Vermilion Research

Vermilion’s objective is to deliver timely, actionable, and unique technical research to professional investors through the application of our various technical indicators.

Our research strategists seek to highlight securities which we believe are at major inflection points, based on our various technical and quantitative indicators, and offer asymmetric risk/return profiles. Our unique research methodology, centered on relative strength, enables our strategists to deliver superior investment recommendations.

Our process begins by organizing the universe of actively traded stocks into discrete sectors, then into industry groups. We then apply our technical and quantitative tools to identify developing price trends. Once attractive trends are identified within a selected sector or group, we screen for individual stocks which we believe offer the best risk/reward profile. We provide a historical perspective that often reveals, through our long-term charts, how price patterns often repeat themselves over time.

Technical Analysis

EURO STOXX 50 Price EUR / Technical Analysis

Our intermediate-term outlook remains constructive with major support levels holding on the broad global indexes (MSCI ACWI, ACWI ex-US, EM, and EAFE). Still, we continue to see some reason for caution as various market dynamics have deteriorated, leading us to a more neutral outlook in the near-term.

Our intermediate-term outlook remains constructive with major support levels holding on the broad global indexes (MSCI ACWI, ACWI ex-US, EM, and EAFE). Still, we continue to see some reason for caution as various market dynamics have deteriorated, leading us to a more neutral outlook in the near-term.

Adding to last week’s concerns reiterated above, additional developments which have further dampened our overall outlook include a breakdown in the global Discretionary vs. Staples ratio, price and RS deterioration for mainland China, Germany, and European Technology, and new lows in the NASDAQ Global Automobile index. Aside from Germany, other major indexes remain above support in Europe/UK and Japan.  We highlight a number of attractive opportunities in “defensive” Financials including electronic exchanges/markets, insurance, commercial/consumer financing, and select asset managers.

Adding to last week’s concerns reiterated above, additional developments which have further dampened our overall outlook include a breakdown in the global Discretionary vs. Staples ratio, price and RS deterioration for mainland China, Germany, and European Technology, and new lows in the NASDAQ Global Automobile index. Aside from Germany, other major indexes remain above support in Europe/UK and Japan.  We highlight a number of attractive opportunities in “defensive” Financials including electronic exchanges/markets, insurance, commercial/consumer financing, and select asset managers.

Global Equity Strategy: More Cracks Begin to Show

This report highlights actionable set ups from predominately European, developed markets, and is supportive of our view that Europe is bottoming, a viewpoint that remains far from consensus. Within Europe, we put a spotlight on Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40. Today’s recommendations are primarily from cyclical Sectors, however European Consumer Staples also exhibits bottoming RS.

This report highlights actionable set ups from predominately European, developed markets, and is supportive of our view that Europe is bottoming, a viewpoint that remains far from consensus. Within Europe, we put a spotlight on Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40. Today’s recommendations are primarily from cyclical Sectors, however European Consumer Staples also exhibits bottoming RS. 

Developed Markets Chart Book: Europe in Focus

Germany

Allianz SE, through subsidiaries, offers insurance and financial services. The Company offers property and casualty, life and health, credit, motor vehicle, and travel insurance, as well as and fund management services.

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Allianz (ALV GR)

Life Insurance Corporation of India's Pursuit of Pre-IPO ESG Ratings Is Positive, But With Some Risk

LIC is proactively pursuing ESG ratings ahead of its IPO. It's an ESG-first, commendable, and positive long-term. But near-term, it could backfire...

Kyle Rudden

The War on Greenwashing: UK Stewardship Code "Successful Signatories" Has Broader Implications

Telegraph from European front in global war on greenwashing. U.K. names stewardship victors ("not greenwashers"). Many notable casualties. Anti...

Kyle Rudden

Major Breakout For EURO STOXX 50

Our intermediate-term outlook remains constructive with major support levels holding on the broad global indexes (MSCI ACWI, ACWI ex-US, EM, and...

Vermilion Research

Global Equity Strategy: More Cracks Begin to Show

Adding to last week’s concerns reiterated above, additional developments which have further dampened our overall outlook include a breakdown in the...

Vermilion Research

Developed Markets Chart Book: Europe in Focus

This report highlights actionable set ups from predominately European, developed markets, and is supportive of our view that Europe is bottoming, a...

Vermilion Research

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