MEAG launches the KlimaStrategie equity fund

With a new equity fund MEAG is now offering private investors the opportunity to invest in a wide range of companies that focus on combating the effects of climate change. The MEAG KlimaStrategie invests worldwide in companies that occupy themselves with how to adjust to climate change or that provide ways to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases.

The fund's objective is to achieve capital growth with a targeted return of over 10 percent. The recommended minimum investment period is eight years. For private investors the minimum investment is Euro 1,200 (one-off) or Euro 50 (recurrent). The fund invests in the sectors that profit from climate change. These include companies involved in renewable energies, energy efficiency, water treatment and supply, recycling and waste management, environmental management and environmental damage management, transport technologies, carbon storage and separation and forestry.

The investment universe of the MEAG KlimaStrategie includes the countries USA, Germany, Austria, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, Great Britain, Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Japan, Australia/New Zealand and Singapore. The equities are selected on a bottom-up basis, with the investment focus on small and mid caps to a minimum of 75 percent. A maximum of 25 percent of the fund assets may be invested in large caps. The companies themselves are chosen using a stock-picking approach that selects the most promising companies in an industry on the basis of a fundamental stock analysis. "MEAG continually observes the investments with its own primary research," says fund manager Christian Greiner. Among the large caps that the fund is to invest in are multinational company groups such as General Electric and Siemens, Philips Electronics (energy efficient lighting), East Japan Railway (transport) and Applied Materials Inc. (manufacturer of solar energy plants).

"The fund's investment strategy benefits from the work done by the GeoRisk Research competence centre at Munich Re, which has been analysing natural phenomena for more than 30 years," says MEAG managing director Dieter Wolf. "This relationship helps ensure a well-targeted selection of green industries with growth potential, and it sets the MEAG KlimaStrategie apart from otherwise similar fund concepts. The investor also profits from the international diversification and potentially attractive returns."

According to the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change published by the former chief economist of the World Bank in 2006, "green technologies are highly attractive for medium to long-term investments, and will represent a global investment volume of more than USD 10 billion by the year 2030. The Stern Review also forecasts an average growth of eight percent per year for green industries, which is around twice the expected growth of the global economy. The global market for wind turbines even grew by 30 percent in 2007. According to the Global Wind Energy Council around 20,000 megawatts of new capacity were installed last year. Experts also expect growth in excess of 10 percent in the photovoltaic sector in 2008, as many companies are currently opening up new markets such as the US, southern Europe and Asia. "When investing in alternative energies, it is mostly the ability to consistently compete with conventional forms of energy generation and the base load capacity, i.e. the production of energy without dependency on weather conditions, that are the main criteria," says Greiner.

Professor Dr. Dr. Peter Höppe, head of the GeoRisk Research department at Munich Re, which has been researching the consequences of climate change for many years now, in order to be ready to act in the insurance field, says: "Climate change is a fact. Countering it is a must. We are convinced that climate protection makes economic sense, as it would be more expensive in the long term to pay for the damage it causes. It offers companies and national economies that react quickly great opportunities through the development of new technologies and greater energy efficiency. The Munich Re Group systematically uses its knowledge to exploit the business potential that results. The MEAG KlimaStrategie equity fund is part of this policy."

People can invest in the fund at all MEAG sales partners, in particular the ERGO insurance companies Victoria, Hamburg-Mannheimer, DKV, D.A.S., KarstadtQuelle Versicherungen and at MEAG itself.

MEAG MUNICH ERGO AssetManagement GmbH in Munich is the asset manager for Munich Re and ERGO Insurance Group. With offices in New York and Hong Kong, MEAG has an international orientation and also manages the assets of clients outside the Munich Re Group. MEAG currently manages assets to the value of around € 181 billion.


Munich/Frankfurt am Main, 13 March 2008


Contact:
Dr. Josef Wild
Telephone: 089 | 2489 - 2072
Fax: 089 | 2489 - 2075
E-mail: JWild@meag.com