Lansdowne Partners will create a new management company to house its clean energy capabilities as a stand-alone specialist entity.
Clean Energy Transition will operate under Per Lekander, partner and portfolio manager, who joined Lansdowne in 2014 to set up and manage its energy dynamics hedge fund. It added a clean energy long-only strategy in 2017.
Lansdowne will partner with Mr. Lekander in the creation of the new company in the fourth quarter, a statement provided by a spokesman said. It will have a "significant, long-term financial interest in Per's new business and will provide it with back and middle-office infrastructure, under a service agreement," the statement added. The size of the stake was not disclosed.
The strategies will be spun out of the firm given their success and the investment opportunity within energy. Lansdowne will ensure a seamless transition of the strategies and existing vehicles to the new management company, and Mr. Lekander and his team will continue to focus on running the funds throughout the period.
"We are pleased to be supporting Per in his new venture and we look forward to continuing our successful partnership with him," Suzi Nutton and Brian Heyworth, co-managing partners, said in the statement. "One of Lansdowne's differentiating characteristics is a flexible operating model that recognises how each manager has their own investing style and differing levels of entrepreneurial appetite. Our backing for Per is further demonstration of this."
The about $1.4 billion Lansdowne Energy Dynamics Fund is a global long/short equity strategy that focuses on transformational change in the energy sector over the next 10 years. It gained 35% in 2020, according to a source familiar with the firm. It invests in core energy sectors such as oil and gas and renewables, as well as energy-linked sectors such as transport and mining.
The Lansdowne Clean Energy Fund, a global long-only equity strategy, has about $500 million in assets under management and gained 44% in 2020, the source added. It also invests in companies representing transformational changes in the global energy sector and focuses on the rapid cost declines in renewables, electrification and information technology changes as they impact power, energy infrastructure and industrials. Investments include in clean generation equipment, new energy technologies and renewables operators.
The strategy excludes companies including those involved in coal, oil and gas extraction companies and also those listed on any of Norges Bank Investment Management’s conduct-based exclusion lists. NBIM runs the assets of the Government Pension Fund Global, Oslo. The sovereign wealth fund had 10.91 trillion Norwegian kroner ($1.27 trillion) in assets as of Dec. 31.
Mr. Lekander was a portfolio manager running a $1.3 billion utilities portfolio at NBIM prior to joining Lansdowne.
