NN Investment Partners will divest all of its fixed-income and equity investments in tobacco manufacturing companies within one year, the Dutch money manager's parent company NN Group said in a news release Thursday.
All mutual funds managed by NN Investment Partners will exclude tobacco. However, it will not divest any assets in discretionary mandates before consulting clients.
"Although we take our stewardship responsibility seriously by helping companies to strengthen their approach to ESG issues, we have concluded that engagement with the tobacco industry will not lead to fundamental changes," said Valentijn van Nieuwenhuijzen, chief investment officer of the money manager, in the release.
To date, NN excluded tobacco only from dedicated socially responsible investing funds.
A spokeswoman could not be reached to provide additional details by press time.
NN Investment Partners has €246 billion ($293.7 billion) in assets under management.
