Our investment process
The investment process seeks to generate strong returns from investing in companies aiming to deliver profits through positive social and environmental impacts. The fund managers look at the world through the prism of three mega trends – Better resource efficiency (cleaner), Improved health (healthier) and Greater safety and resilience (safer) – and then 22 themes within these.
If a company has significant exposure to one of the themes, the fund managers verify how sustainable the rest of its activities are. For each company, the fund managers determine the ESG factors that are important indicators of future success and assess how well these are managed, via the proprietary Liontrust Sustainability Matrix.
Companies in which the fund managers invest will have robust business fundamentals with a proven ability to deliver high returns of equity (RoE) through sustaining margins and asset turnover. Typically, these companies have a maintainable competitive advantage through scale, technology or business model.
Sustainability Focus label
Funds managed by the team
Latest insights
Meet the team
The team has been managing the Sustainable Future funds for over 20 years. A key differentiator is the fact all the sustainable elements are fully integrated within a single team. The team is headed by Peter Michaelis, who was previously head of SRI at Aviva Investors and has been managing the SF funds since launch. The team joined as part of Liontrust’s acquisition of Alliance Trust Investments (ATI), and were previously running the Sustainable Future fund range at Aviva Investors. The other lead equity managers are Simon Clements (who was formerly head of global equities at Aviva Investors) along with Martyn Jones and Chris Foster, who joined the management training programme at ATI as graduates. Fixed income investments are managed by Kenny Watson (formerly at Ignis Asset Management), Aitken Ross and Jack Willis who also started their careers in the graduate scheme at ATI, and Connor Godsell. Harriet Parker leads on engagement activities across the team.
Peter Michaelis
Peter Michaelis is head of the Sustainable Investment team, having joined Liontrust in 2017 as part of the acquisition of Alliance Trust Investments, where he was head of investment. Peter has been managing money in Sustainable and Responsible Investment for over 20 years.
Simon Clements
Simon Clements is a fund manager who joined Liontrust in 2017 as part of the acquisition of Alliance Trust Investments, where he had managed funds for five years. Prior to this, Simon spent 12 years at Aviva Investors (previously Morley Fund Management) where, most recently, he was head of global equities.
Martyn Jones
Martyn Jones joined Liontrust April 2017 as part of the acquisition of Alliance Trust Investments (ATI) and became a fund manager in 2019. Martyn spent five years at ATI, initially as a graduate trainee and then as an analyst with the Sustainable Investment team.
Chris Foster
Chris Foster is a fund manager who joined Liontrust in 2017 as part of the acquisition of Alliance Trust Investments (ATI). Previously, Chris joined ATI through the management training programme after graduating with a First-Class Honours
Mike Appleby
Mike Appleby is an investment manager on the Liontrust Sustainable Investment team, with responsibility for the generation and integration of sustainable and responsible investment (SRI) research into the funds and portfolios.
Harriet Parker
Harriet Parker is an investment manager on the Liontrust Sustainable Investment team with responsibility for identifying sustainable and responsible companies with attractive valuations. She joined Liontrust in 2017 as part of the acquisition of Alliance Trust Investments.
Kenny Watson
Kenny Watson is a fund manager who joined Liontrust in April 2017 as part of the acquisition of Alliance Trust Investments, where he managed funds for more than three years. Previously, Kenny was at Ignis Asset Management for 15 years, specialising first in UK smaller companies,
Aitken Ross
Aitken Ross is a fund manager who joined Liontrust in 2017 as part of the company's acquisition of Alliance Trust Investments. Aitken started his career on the Alliance Trust Management Training programme in September 2010
Jack Willis
Jack Willis is a fund manager, having joined Liontrust in 2017 as part of the company's acquisition of Alliance Trust Investments. Jack started his career on the Alliance Trust Management Training programme in September 2014 after graduating with First Class
Connor Godsell
Connor Godsell is an investment manager who joined Liontrust in November 2023 as part of the Sustainable Investment team. Connor started his career at Aberdeen Investments where he gained seven years industry experience working on the Rates & Inflation desk,
Mingming Huang
Mingming Huang joined Liontrust in June 2019 on the Sustainable Investment Equities team as a Portfolio Assistant Manager, providing analytical support for the team’s thematic analysis and engagement.
Deepesh Marwaha
Deepesh is an investment analyst, having joined Liontrust in September 2021 on the Sustainable Investment fixed income team. Deepesh graduated from the University of Strathclyde in Economics and Human Resource
Nancy Kondelidou
Nancy is an investment analyst, having joined Liontrust in September 2021 on the Sustainable Investment fixed income team. Prior to this, she worked for a year in a fixed income data related role.
Ed Phelps
Ed is an investment analyst, having joined Liontrust in 2021 on the Sustainable Investment equities team. Ed previously completed an internship in the Responsible Investment department at Redington.
Sarah Nottle
Sarah is an investment analyst, having joined Liontrust in 2021 on the Sustainable Investment Equities team. Prior to this, she worked within the asset management industry in an operations role.
Linnea Bengtsson
Linnea Bengtsson is an equity analyst who joined Liontrust in 2023 as part of the Sustainable Investment team. Linnea previously worked at Ninety One Asset Management (formerly Investec),...
Hannah Muir
Hannah Muir joined Liontrust in 2017 as part of the company's acquisition of Alliance Trust Investments. Hannah joined the Sustainable Investment fixed income team as an analyst, producing sustainability analysis reports.
