Merchants Trust | ESG

The Allianz Global Investors (AllianzGI) portfolio managers fully integrate the consideration of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors into the Merchants Trust research process.

This process ensures:

• Formal consideration of environmental, social and governance factors for every investment
• Companies with a low score on any ESG factor are sold or need a documented justification from the portfolio manager
• Independent monitoring by a separate team within AllianzGI, with daily exception reporting
• Merchants' long term risk assessment is enhanced.

We engage with the boards and executive management teams of the companies in the portfolio. This is not just about holding management to account, but also about influencing company strategy and promoting effective governance, to help improve long term performance. Working with investee companies means we can help engender real change and make a positive difference to society.

There is more information on our website and in the Annual Report where the investment manager, Simon Gergel, gives a review of integrated ESG and engagement activities in his report. Highlights of the ESG and Sustainable Investing Approach are introduced on pages 6 and 7 of the 2022 Annual Report.