American Century Investments (ACI) has debuted in Environmental Finance’s awards with its Health Care Impact Strategy, winning Social fund of the year, global.
The strategy aims to reach hundreds of millions of people who are living with a variety of health conditions – from cancer to hearing loss.
The strategy was founded in 2018 and aims to provide financial returns and a positive impact on society by funding companies that provide access to medicine and healthcare services (73% of its portfolio companies), new or innovative treatment for diseases, including cancer (68%), more productive medical equipment, services and software (49%) and new solutions for lowering health care costs (27%).
At the end of the May, the fund held $1.53 billion in assets under management. It has invested in 30-50 healthcare companies across the US, Asia and Europe and engaged on a variety of environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues across shareholder proxy votes.
Portfolio companies include Insulet Corporation, Alnylam Pharmaceutical, Arvinas, Silk Road Medical, and Teladoc Health.
Over 40% of ACI’s dividend - $1.8 billion since 2000 – has gone to the Stowers Institute for Medical Research (SIMR), a biomedical research organisation and the largest owner of ACI.
Michael Li, a senior portfolio manager at ACI, commented that the fund tended to invest in smaller companies, as they are typically “more efficient with capital and more effective with innovative research and development work,” compared to larger companies that can “waste funding” as they are typically “more bureaucratic”.
