Press Releases

Colonial First State Appoints ASSET4 as ESG Research Provider

Australia – Colonial First State Global Asset Management (CFSGAM) has appointed ASSET4, a Thomson Reuters business, as its new environmental, social responsibility and governance (ESG) research provider. ASSET4 will support CFSGAM’s commitment to integrate ESG considerations into its investment processes across all asset classes.

David Dixon, Chief Investment Officer at CFSGAM said: “The appointment of ASSET4 means our investment teams will have some of the world’s best quality ESG data and tools to help make the best possible investment decisions for our clients.”

“We favoured ASSET4 because their broad coverage includes sovereign and unlisted companies that can be used by the credit and fixed income teams, and they have in-depth coverage of emerging markets companies,” Mr Dixon said.

ASSET4, which was acquired by Thomson Reuters in November 2009, has developed the world’s largest database of transparent, objective and auditable ESG information covering over 3,000 publicly listed companies worldwide, as well as a variety of other entities including countries, local authorities, state-owned companies and supranational entities.

Amanda McCluskey, Head of Sustainability and Responsible Investment at CFSGAM said: “What distinguishes ASSET4 from other ESG research providers is that they look to present the facts about a company’s ESG performance in a way that can be used in investment processes across the business, rather than to make value judgments on the ESG credentials of a particular company.”

“ASSET4 will be gradually rolled out across the listed equity and credit and fixed interest teams at CFSGAM. Every analyst will eventually have access to the ASSET4 database. This is a critical next step in the mainstreaming of ESG across our business,” Ms McCluskey said.

Henrik Steffensen, co-founder of ASSET4 and Vice President, Marketing, Business Development and Services said, “We are pleased to be making our first step into the Australian market with Colonial First State Global Asset Management. Their commitment to integrating ESG across its mainstream investment processes makes them an ideal client to benefit from ASSET4 data and tools. This appointment is a perfect example of how ASSET4 being a part of Thomson Reuters enables us to meet the needs of the investment community around the world as ESG data continues to become increasingly integrated into mainstream financial analysis.”

About Colonial First State Global Asset Management
Colonial First State Global Asset Management is the consolidated asset management division of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia group, one of the largest financial institutions in Australia. At 31 December 2009, Colonial First State Global Asset Management managed A$149 billion. In March 2007, Colonial First State Global Asset Management signed the UN Principles of Responsible Investment, which provide a framework for including environmental, social and governance issues for investment decisions.

About Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters is the world's leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals. We combine industry expertise with innovative technology to deliver critical information to leading decision makers in the financial, legal, tax and accounting, healthcare and science and media markets, powered by the world's most trusted news organization. With headquarters in New York and major operations in London and Eagan, Minnesota, Thomson Reuters employs more than 50,000 people and operates in over 100 countries. For more information, go to www.thomsonreuters.com.

About ASSET4
ASSET4, a Thomson Reuters business, is the leading provider of objective, comparable and auditable extra-financial information. ASSET4 provides professional investors and corporate executives access to the world’s largest database of ESG information and the analysis tools to integrate that information into their everyday decision making. ASSET4 is a proud signatory of the UN's Principles for Responsible Investment. For more information, please visit www.asset4.com.

For a printable PDF of this press release, click here.

Thomson Reuters Invests in Environmental, Social Responsibility and Governance Content Through the Acquisition of ASSET4

New York and Zug, Switzerland, November 30, 2009 – Thomson Reuters today announced that it has acquired the business of ASSET4 AG, a Swiss-based, leading provider of Environmental, Social Responsibility and Governance (ESG) information and tools for professional investors and corporate executives. This deal represents a step forward in the integration of ESG data into mainstream financial analysis and underscores Thomson Reuters commitment to meet the evolving needs of the global financial community.

The global credit crisis, climate change, new regulation and other issues have highlighted the need for financial firms to assess the environmental, social responsibility, governance and reputational risks attached to the firms in which they invest. Through the acquisition of ASSET4’s leading ESG information and tools, Thomson Reuters clients worldwide will benefit from having direct access to this increasingly important information as part of their investment process.

Through the acquisition, Thomson Reuters will offer the most comprehensive database of objective, consistent and transparent ESG information along with a wide range of analysis tools enabling clients to integrate it into their everyday decision making. This information allows investors to engage companies, improve investment performance, reduce risk and lower research costs, while corporate executives can reduce risk, enhance corporate governance and increase accountability, transparency and trust.

“Thomson Reuters acquisition of ASSET4’s business is timely as our clients are looking for deeper insight into the combination of financial and extra-financial factors that drive the performance and risk of their investments”, said Abel Clark, global head of strategy and marketing, Investment and Advisory at Thomson Reuters. “The ESG content and tools will bring our clients increased transparency into areas of corporate performance that will grow in relevance as voluntary and mandatory ESG disclosure and performance standards become more prevalent.”

“Thomson Reuters is the natural choice to take the extra-financial information and tools that ASSET4 has built over the last five years to a truly global and mainstream client base,” said Peter Ohnemus, ASSET4 CEO and President. “Thomson Reuters clients will now have the information and tools to make this type of analysis a reality. Our existing clients, like Bank Sarasin, Storebrand and Société Générale, who have been thought leaders in responsible investing, will now be able to seamlessly integrate our ESG information into all aspects of their investment processes.”

Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters is the world's leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals. We combine industry expertise with innovative technology to deliver critical information to leading decision makers in the financial, legal, tax and accounting, healthcare and science and media markets, powered by the world's most trusted news organization. With headquarters in New York and major operations in London and Eagan, Minnesota, Thomson Reuters employs more than 50,000 people and operates in over 100 countries. For more information, go to www.thomsonreuters.com.

ASSET4 is the leading provider of objective, comparable and auditable extra-financial information. ASSET4 provides professional investors and corporate executives access to the world’s largest database of ESG information and the analysis tools to integrate that information into their everyday decision making. ASSET4 is a proud signatory of the UN's Principles for Responsible Investment and a contributing member to organizations and initiatives like: UNEP-FI, Eurosif, UKSIF, USSIF, Nachhaltiges Investment and the Ceres Coalition. For more information, please visit www.asset4.com.

For a printable PDF of this press release, click here.

Supply-Chain Labor and Human Rights Policies are Becoming the Norm for Large Cap Companies

First-of-a-Kind Benchmark Study Finds 43 Percent of European Companies Have Supply-Chain Labor and Human Rights Policies, With U.S. and Asia Lagging Behind

New York, NY – November 11, 2009

Some 28% of global companies – including nearly half of those with market capitalizations of more than $10 billion – have labor and human rights (LHR) policies covering their global supply chains. However, materially fewer have established follow-up monitoring and enforcement procedures. Geographically, LHR supply-chain policies are close to the norm among European companies, but the United States and Asia lag behind. These findings are contained in a new study that is the first publicly available benchmarking analysis of global LR policies, and covers more than 2500 global companies. The study was conducted by the Harvard Law School Pensions Project and ASSET4, and funded by the not-for-profit IRRC Institute.

“These benchmarks offer investors, corporate officials and other interested parties a starting point for assessing company LHR policies,” said Aaron Bernstein, senior research fellow at the Pensions and Capital Stewardship Project at Harvard Law School’s Labor and Worklife Program. “The fact that 45 percent of the 657 largest companies in the sample have adopted a supply-chain LHR policy – and that 25 percent have published a specific supplier code of conduct – suggests such approaches may be an emerging best practice that is prudent to emulate. The implication is that LHR concerns are close to the norm for large global corporations, while those lacking LHR policies may come under pressure to adopt them,” Bernstein added.

“Investors and corporate managers have few methods to compare companies’ LHR policies, nor tools for learning approaches that might reduce long-term reputational or operational risk,” said Christopher Greenwald, director of data content for ASSET4, which provided the data for the study. “Now investors have market-wide benchmarks that provide a basis to compare the investment risks posed by the varying approaches of companies to mitigate LHR risk. This allows investors to move beyond pure ‘negative screening’ of companies in violation of LHR norms, and to identify innovative companies in LHR risk management through best-in-class approaches that are sensitive to the differences in LHR supply chain reporting across various industries, geographies and market capitalizations.”

“Retail and institutional investors are increasingly concerned about the sustainability of the companies they own,” said Jon Lukomnik, program director of the IRRC Institute. “While they are looking at governance practices such as executive compensation and at environmental practices as never before, LHR practices and policies have been highly under-researched. At the same time, sweatshop and quality and safety controversies have erupted regularly for Western companies’ with overseas supply chains – Nike, Wal-Mart and Tesco to name just a few. Investors remember all too well what results when public criticism inflicts reputational damage on companies or when substandard suppliers create safety recalls – it damages the bottom line,” Lukomnik added.

The 31-page study, “Benchmarking Corporate Policies on Labor and Human Rights In Global Supply Chains,” analyzes corporate policies on labor and human rights as applied to global supply chains. The research made use of ASSET4’s database of more than 85 data points for 2,508 publicly listed companies, including every company comprising the S&P 500, FTSE 350, MSCI World and Dow Jones STOXX 600 stock market indices. The report key findings are as follows:

A significant minority of all 2,508 companies—28 percent—has LHR policies. Fewer have follow up procedures; only 15 percent have issued a detailed LHR code of conduct for their suppliers.
Some 45 percent of large companies have issued an LHR policy, and 18 percent of smaller companies. The relatively large proportion of high-market-capitalization companies may indicate
that LHR supply-chain policies are starting to become an expected part of corporate behavior, at least among those with extensive supply chains or in some markets or industries.
About 43 percent of companies based in Europe have LHR policies, while only 23 percent of US companies and 20 percent of Asian firms have such supplier policies.
European companies are more likely to describe monitoring, improvement targets and enforcement mechanisms for their policies and codes than U.S. and Asian companies.
Less than six percent of companies endorse specific labor standards such as the eight core conventions of the International Labor Organization. Only six percent say they monitor suppliers for policy or code compliance or set LHR improvement targets; and only seven percent describe enforcement procedures.
LHR policies are more likely in sectors of the economy that have been subject to the most exposes of LHR abuse. They are most prevalent in the consumer discretionary or consumer staples sectors, which include industries such as apparel and personal products. Some 49 percent of firms in these sectors have a policy and 32 percent have published a code of conduct. Such policies are found in only 15 percent of financial firms. The energy sector is the least likely to have supply-chain LHR policies, at 14 percent.
The five industries with the highest prevalence of corporate policies have experienced relatively greater negative LHR supplier publicity. Some 65 percent of household and personal products firms have policies and 55 percent have a code. In three other industries, a majority of companies have policies as well: consumer durables and apparel; retailing; and food staples retailing.

The findings are based public disclosures by companies in documents such as annual reports and corporate responsibility reports. They do not include any external verification or assessment of how well companies implement stated policies and procedures, or whether they adhere to their own self-described policies.

About The IRRC Institute

The IRRC Institute is a not-for-profit organization headquartered in New York, N.Y whose mission is to provide thought leadership at the intersection of corporate responsibility and the informational needs of investors. More information is available at www.irrcinstitute.org.

About The Pensions and Capital Stewardship Project of the Labor and Worklife Program, Harvard Law School

The Pensions Project addresses issues of retirement security, including pension fund governance, management, investment, and related matters. More information is available here.

For a printable PDF of this press release, click here.
To download the complete study, click here.

QSG Confirms Positive Relationship Between ESG Factors and Financial Performance Using ASSET4 Data, Quantitative Analysis

Naperville, IL and Zug, Switzerland – November 10, 2009

Quantitative Services Group LLC (QSG®), a leading provider of equity research, multi-factor models and trading analytics to top institutional investors, today announced that it has completed an extensive analysis of a comprehensive set of Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) data provided by ASSET4. This analysis, which employed an evaluation framework considering more than 250 key performance indicators applied to 900 individual data points, confirmed the excess return generating value of ESG data. The study also proposed specific methodologies for integration into the traditional equity modeling process.

To conduct this analysis, QSG developed aggregate ESG scores by company and through extensive testing found that the top ranked firms significantly outperformed the equal weighted Russell 1000 Index over the test period. Furthermore, QSG noted performance improvements from the integration of ESG scores with the QSG Value Momentum® stock ranking model, confirming the value of combining the ESG signals with an existing stock selection process. The analysis further established that value can be created from using the signals as an ancillary screen to identify future performance leaders and avoid laggards.

“Our work with ASSET4 reveals that ESG signals can be used as a source of incremental alpha and need not be relegated to the domain of SRI criteria. I was pleasantly surprised by the scope and depth of the data,” said Tim Sargent, QSG Chief Executive Officer and President. “These value drivers extend well beyond those captured in traditional financial reporting, but are nevertheless fundamentally linked to shareholder returns. QSG is thrilled to offer our clients access to this data through our relationship with ASSET4.”

Through this partnership, joint QSG/ASSET4 clients can obtain ASSET4 data in a number of different ways, ranging from daily rankings of a set of 23 ESG related factors to full ASSET4 assetmasterProfessional™ product platform access.

“We see our partnership with QSG as another indication of the growing importance of ESG information,” said Ted Yarnell, ASSET4 Vice President and General Manager Americas. “QSG is one of the first quantitative analysis firms to understand and incorporate ESG information into their processes, which should provide a true competitive benefit to their clients. We are excited about this partnership and look forward to continuing to demonstrate the positive relationship between ESG factors and financial performance.”

About Quantitative Services Group LLC

Quantitative Services Group LLC is a leading provider of independent global equity research, advanced trading cost analytics, and investment consulting services to institutional investors. QSG does not manage assets or offer execution services, allowing the firm to provide clients with unbiased, impartial research. They reserve the right to limit distribution of its products. QSG's products include QSG Edge™, Pre-Trade Analyst ®, T-cost Pro®, Factor Analyst®, and Virtual Research Analyst®. The details of QSG's client relationships are kept strictly confidential. (www.qsg.com)

For a printable PDF of this press release, click here.
To read more about the study, click here.

ASSET4 Partners with Consulting Company 21C to Serve the Dutch Investment Community

Zug, Switzerland, September 1, 2009

ASSET4, a leading provider of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) information solutions, today announced that 21C, the well-known Dutch consultant and interim investment management services company, will be its partner and reseller in The Netherlands. 21C will be focusing on the Dutch market with a particular emphasis on institutional investors (pension funds, banks, asset managers) who are leading the move towards more sustainable and responsible investments.

“The ultimate challenge in portfolio allocation and risk management is how to create a portfolio that incorporates long-term sustainability themes across all asset categories, sectors and countries,” said Marcel de Berg, Director at 21C. “ASSET4 provides some essential building blocks with its comparable and flexible information that enable investors to select companies based on sustainable policies and performance criteria and integrate this information in the investment process themselves. We believe ASSET4 is the leading ESG data provider and are very happy to offer their solutions to our clients.”

Lucas van Berkestijn, ASSET4 Channel Manager, commented on the partnership by stating, “We are extremely happy to have won 21C as a partner and reseller for The Netherlands, which is one of the leading markets in sustainable and responsible investments. 21C has a wealth of experience in the design of strategies and the integration of sustainability in investment processes and products. This partnership marks an important step towards a broader channel strategy for ASSET4. By working with highly experienced companies and professionals around the world, we can ensure that global investors have access to our world-class ESG database and flexible tools in order to identify those sustainability criteria that are relevant to creating shareholder value and achieve long-term outperformance.”

About 21C

21C is a consultant and interim investment management services company focused on advising, designing and implementing sustainable and responsible investment strategies that can help lead to a sustainable world in the 21st century. 21C believes that it is essential for investors to integrate long term themes, such as climate change, water scarcity, demographic trends, energy efficiency, poverty, biodiversity, etc., in their investment process. For the previous eight years, 21C supported IDEAM, the sustainable asset management company of Crédit Agricole in The Netherlands. Marcel de Berg is also founder and chairman of the Sustainable Asset Management commission of the VBA (the Dutch association of investment professionals). For more information, please visit: www.21c.nl.

For a printable PDF of this press release, click here.

KBC Asset Management Acquires ASSET4’s ESG Information to Expand its Sustainability Research and Analysis Resources

Brussels, Belgium and Zug, Switzerland, June 23, 2009

KBC Asset Management, the largest structured funds operator in the Belgian market for institutional investors and private investors, and ASSET4 AG, the leading provider of objective and measurable environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) information, jointly announced today that KBC Asset Management has acquired a subscription for the ASSET4 information solution. KBC Asset Management plans to integrate the ASSET4 data into its in-house Sustainability Research Department’s on-going analysis and screening processes.

“We have selected the assetmasterProfessional™ solution because of the objectivity and scope of its data as well as the transparency that is built into the entire solution,” said Geert Heuninck, KBC Asset Management's Head of SRI Department. “With the product and its Excel Add-In functionality, our SRI analysts can seamlessly integrate ASSET4’s ESG data into their current best-in-class and environmental research. Whether an analyst is investigating a company’s performance on human rights, carbon emissions or corporate governance the in-depth ASSET4 data will provide a new resource to consider. Since 1992 we have been the SRI leader in Belgium and now with access to ASSET4’s universe of over 2,600 companies and its 250 key performance indicators and 900 data points, we can continue to expand and deepen our SRI research and screening processes.”

“KBC Asset Management has been a pioneer in socially responsible investment, and we are proud that they have chosen the ASSET4 solution,” said Peter Ohnemus, ASSET4 President and CEO. “The combination of their in-house Sustainability Research Department with the independent monitoring coming from their External Advisory Board for Sustainability Analysis and their Environmental Advisory Committee truly sets them apart. Now with access to the ASSET4 system, which contains the world’s largest database of ESG information, an ESG news tracking capability and our recently announced carbon emission estimates, the KBC Asset Management sustainability team has an enormous new reservoir of information to rely on for the development of the industry-leading socially responsible funds.”

KBC Asset Management NV

KBC Asset Management NV is part of the KBC Group KBC is a multi-channel bancassurer with a geographic focus on Europe, catering mainly for retail and private banking customers and small and medium-sized enterprises. Besides focusing on providing retail and private bancassurance services, KBC is active in asset management and private equity, and in the field of corporate banking, leasing, factoring, re-insurance, insurance, brokerage, project and trade finance in Belgium, Central and Eastern Europe and elsewhere (mainly in Europe). It also has an extensive private banking network in eight Western European countries. The head office is located in Brussels, the financial heart of Europe. KBC Asset Management has been operating since 1948 and thus has already built up well over fifty years’ experience. KBC Asset Management is the largest player on the Belgian market for institutional asset management and for private investors. It has a leading position in Western Europe and a dominant presence in Central Europe; occupies a prominent position worldwide in capital-protected products (e.g., click funds); manages some 200 open-ended investment funds and around 800 investment funds offering capital protection. For more information, please visit www.kbcam.be.

For a printable PDF of this press release, click here.

Nestlé Benchmarks Its Sustainability Performance Using the ASSET4 Solution

Zug, Switzerland, June 4, 2009

ASSET4 AG today announced that Nestlé is now using ASSET4 to benchmark its environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance. Nestlé’s investor relations department relies on the ASSET4 ESG database and analysis tools to evaluate Nestlé against its peers and the entire ASSET4 universe covering more than 2,600 global companies.

“Nestlé has a fundamental commitment to improving its ESG performance through what we call, ‘Creating Shared Value,’ which ties long-term business success and the creation of shareholder value to the creation of value for society at large.” said Roddy Child-Villiers, Nestlé’s head of Investor Relations. “Our focus is on improving our own actions, commitments and communication in the areas of sustainability and corporate governance, but it is also helpful to see how we compare to our peers and other industry leaders. ASSET4 helps us do this by showing where we stand and allowing us to move forward more effectively and efficiently.”

“Nestlé is truly a leader in integrating sustainability into its basic business model, and we are proud that they chose ASSET4 to support their ongoing evaluation of their environmental, social and governance performance,” said Peter Ohnemus, ASSET4 President and CEO. “The ASSET4 ESG information framework enables our corporate clients to focus on the level of information they require. With a few clicks of the mouse, clients can benchmark how they perform in regard to specific key performance indicators, such as water use reduction or from an overall extra-financial perspective. ASSET4 is committed to providing corporations and professional investors the information and analysis tools necessary to monitor, evaluate and benchmark the ESG performance of today’s leading global companies, like Nestlé.”

For a printable PDF of this press release, click here.

NYSE Euronext Partners With ASSET4 to Provide Corporate Transparency Tool to Listed Issuers

New Solution to Help NYSE-Listed Companies Enhance Corporate Governance and Transparency

New York, USA and Zug, Switzerland, May 19, 2009

NYSE Euronext (NYX) and ASSET4, a leading provider of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) information solutions, today announced that they will collaborate to provide tools to help NYSE-listed companies benchmark their extra-financial policies and practices.

NYSE Euronext will provide the ASSET4 assetmasterExecutive™ solution to a number of NYSE-listed companies, enabling them to manage risk, enhance corporate governance practices and increase accountability. This follows a pilot program during which NYSE Euronext-listed issuers successfully incorporated the ASSET4 solution into their corporate responsibility evaluation processes.

“Environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues have now become very important factors affecting a company’s overall performance and risk profile,” said Joseph Mecane, EVP and Chief Administrative Officer, U.S. Markets, NYSE Euronext. “ASSET4 can provide corporate leaders a sustainability matrix through which they manage their corporate social responsibility strategies with increased accuracy. We are pleased to work with ASSET4, and our collaboration underscores NYSE Euronext’s commitment to providing world-class value-added services to our listed companies.”

“Our partnership with NYSE Euronext is a major milestone in the recognition of the increasing impact that ESG issues have on corporate performance and risk,” said Peter Ohnemus, CEO and President of ASSET4. “Investors and corporate CEOs understand the need for a new level of transparency in the way they do business and conduct their communications. assetmasterExecutive™ gives corporate executives, board members, CSR managers, investor relations and corporate communication professionals the ability to monitor and benchmark their own extra-financial performance and risk factors, and in turn prepare them for the new business and regulatory reality that will be emerging in the months and years to come.”

NYSE Euronext is the first major stock exchange in the world to offer this tool to its issuers, reinforcing its own commitment to corporate transparency. In 2008, NYSE Euronext was ranked among the “World’s Most Ethical Companies” in a survey by Etisphere, the only exchange group in the world to make it into this annual ranking for sustainable, ethical business practices.

Background

The assetmasterExecutive™ solution, based on ASSET4’s world’s largest database of objective and transparent ESG information, enables users to analyse an expanded set of competitive parameters that include their level of carbon risk, board independence and employee satisfaction. With one click of the mouse users can evaluate extra-financial key performance indicator (KPI) configurations (e.g. one based on the Global Reporting Initiative) to monitor how their own company and their peers are performing. In addition, within each standard or customised benchmark the best-in-class company is identified for each KPI, enabling users to see in what areas they may be a leader and where a laggard. Benchmarks can include any of the over 2,600 companies covered by ASSET4.

About NYSE Euronext

NYSE Euronext (NYX) is the world’s most diverse exchange group, offering a broad and growing array of financial products and services in Europe and the United States that include cash equities, futures, options, exchange-traded products, bonds, market data, and commercial technology solutions. With over 8,000 listed issues globally, NYSE Euronext's equities markets -- the New York Stock Exchange, Euronext, NYSE Arca, and NYSE Amex -- represent nearly 40% of the world's cash equities trading volume, the most liquidity of any global exchange group. NYSE Euronext also operates NYSE Liffe, the leading European derivatives business and the world’s second largest derivatives business by value of trading. NYSE Euronext offers comprehensive global commercial technology, connectivity, and market data products and services through its innovative trading solutions unit, NYSE Technologies. NYSE Euronext is part of the S&P 500 index and the only exchange operator in the S&P 100 index. For more information, please visit: www.nyx.com.

For a printable PDF of this press release, click here.

TD Asset Management Enhances Sustainable Investment Research with ASSET4 Data

Toronto, Canada and Zug, Switzerland, May 5, 2009

TD Asset Management Inc., one of Canada’s largest investment management firms, and ASSET4 AG (ASSET4), a leading provider of verifiable environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) information, announced today that TD Asset Management has acquired a subscription for ASSET4’s ESG information solution.

“As part of our commitment to sustainable investing, we’ve been developing a proprietary sustainability matrix to ensure our analysis of a company includes a thorough examination of ESG factors,” said Bruce Cooper, Managing Director, TD Asset Management. “ASSET4 offers comprehensive and verifiable ESG data which will be particularly useful to this matrix as well as being extremely valuable as we continue to assess our own ESG practices.”

“We are very pleased to be working with TD Asset Management,” said Ted Yarnell, ASSET4 Vice President and General Manager Americas. “Like us, they are a signatory to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), and they know that good ESG data is key to an investment management firm being able to meet its PRI commitments. ASSET4’s information solution includes verifiable ESG data on 278 key performance indicators for more than 2,500 public companies, which will include the full S&P/TSX Composite Index, plus a variety of tools that can help our clients analyze the data. It is a premier solution for any organization that is committed to sustainable investing.”

About TD Asset Management

TD Asset Management operates in Canada as TD Asset Management Inc. and in the United States as TDAM USA Inc. TD Asset Management is a highly diversified North American investment management organization with leading market positions in active, quantitative and passive portfolio management. In aggregate as of March 31, 2009, TD Asset Management’s investment professionals managed over C$169 billion/US$134 billion in assets under management on behalf of pension, insurance, endowment/foundation and corporate clients, as well as for high-net worth individuals and retail mutual funds. As part of its commitment to sustainable investing, TD Asset Management is a signatory to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment, a signatory to the Carbon Disclosure Project, and a member of the Canadian Coalition for Good Governance. For more information, please visit www.tdam.com.

To download a PDF of the press release in English, click here.
To download a PDF of the press release in French, click here.

Andrew White Joins ASSET4 as Senior Sales Director

Zug, Switzerland, May 5, 2009

ASSET4 AG today announced that Andrew White, the former UK Managing Director for Innovest Strategic Value Advisors, has joined ASSET4 as Senior Sales Director in the United Kingdom. ASSET4 is the world’s leading provider of objective and measurable environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) information.

“Andrew White’s over ten years of extra-financial research experience, wide-ranging financial industry contacts and work with governmental and international agencies makes him an important addition to the ASSET4 management team,” said Peter Ohnemus, ASSET4 President & CEO. “The United Kingdom is clearly a European and global leader in responsible investing, and Andrew will be able to provide the level of leadership that our clients and prospects in the UK require.”

“I wanted to join ASSET4 because I fundamentally believe in their approach to extra-financial research,” said Andrew White, ASSET4 Senior Sales Director UK. “Today’s professional investors and corporate executives are demanding a level of transparency, objectivity and flexibility that can only be provided by the objective and comparable ESG information offered by ASSET4. Combining ASSET4’s comprehensive database and the flexibility of their solution with the ability to do bespoke research represents an ideal solution for many clients.”

Andrew White has over ten years of experience within the extra-financial research industry in which he has held managing director positions at Innovest Strategic Value Advisors and Core Ratings. During this time Andrew was responsible for product development, in areas such as carbon finance and international norms-based compliance, as well as building new sustainability themed funds and indexes together with leading banks and fund managers.

For a printable PDF of this press release, click here.

ASSET4 Expands Client Services Organisation

Zug, Switzerland, May 5, 2009

ASSET4 AG today announced that Dr. James Murphy and André Chanavat have joined the ASSET4 Client Services organisation. Dr. Murphy has taken the role of Director of Client Services, while Mr. Chanavat is a Client Services Executive. ASSET4 is the world’s leading provider of objective and measurable environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) information.

Dr. James Murphy previously served as Associate Director of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) in Amsterdam from 2004 through 2007 where he played an integral role in the development of the current GRI Sustainability Reporting Guidelines. Most recently James directed global external relations at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the world’s leading think tank for international affairs, based in London, UK and has been consulting in both the non-profit and private sectors in the areas of CSR and sustainability.

Prior to joining ASSET4 André Chanavat worked for Interactive Data Corporation, a leading global provider of financial market data, analytics and related services to financial institutions, active traders and individual investors. As a portfolio analyst André performed fixed income research, analysis and support to both existing and prospective clients.

“James Murphy’s experience at the GRI and through his CSR consulting activities has made him a true thought leader in the area of responsible investing,” said Henrik Steffensen, ASSET4 Vice President Marketing, Business Development, Services. “His industry expertise will ensure that our clients can rely on our Client Services organisation for a full range of support as they integrate the ASSET4 information into their everyday processes. André Chanavat’s experience in fixed income investments is an important addition to the team as the significance of socially responsible fixed income investments continues to grow.”

For a printable PDF of this press release, please click here.

ASSET4 Carbon Data & Estimates Available Now

Zug, Switzerland, April 8, 2009

ASSET4 AG, the leading provider of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) information, today announced that it has released its ASSET4 Carbon Data & Estimates product, which is a standalone product based on three transparent models designed to estimate total CO2 emissions for reporting and non-reporting companies.

In 2007 one third of the companies in the ASSET4 universe, which includes the MSCI World Index, reported on their total CO2 emissions. Click here to download a graph illustrating the level of reporting by sector. In addition, only a relatively small number of companies have already reported their 2008 emissions. With the ASSET4 Carbon Data & Estimates, users can now identify the carbon leaders and laggards of their portfolio and their risk profile sooner rather than later.

“Monitoring total CO2 emissions has become an essential element in analysing a company’s potential liabilities, performance and risk due to the cap-and-trade policies and carbon taxes in place and being proposed,” said Peter Ohnemus, ASSET4 CEO and President. “However, the timeliness and completeness of reporting on total CO2 emissions varies from sector to sector, industry to industry and even company to company. The ASSET4 Carbon Data & Estimates gives users access to the actual reported CO2 emissions values from the ASSET4 database, as well as estimates to fill in the gaps where needed. One clear differentiator of our estimates is that in keeping with ASSET4's commitment to transparency, we make detailed descriptions of each estimate model available to users, so they can understand our approach. As carbon grows in importance, I believe that having access to the most accurate carbon data whether reported or estimated will become a must-have for all investors, not just investors interested in sustainability or responsible investing.”

The models work with historical carbon and energy data normalised by number of employees and revenue and are based on ASSET4's industry-leading extra-financial database covering over 2,500 global companies.

The three types of models:

CO2 model
Energy model
Median model

The CO2 model works with a company’s own latest reported CO2 data, if there is any from the previous two years and extrapolates carbon emissions for the year in question based on the development of company activities. The Energy model works with a company’s total energy consumed, if reported and uses that to compare it with companies within the same industry or sector. The Median model computes the CO2 / number of employees ratio for all companies within a company’s industry and then uses the median value as the estimate.

The ASSET4 Carbon Data & Estimates product is purchased with an annual subscription rate, which includes monthly updates, ensuring that users have the most up-to-date information available.

For more information on the various carbon estimate packages, click here.
For a printable PDF of this press release, please click here.

A New Extra-Financial Solution for Fixed Income Investments

Zug, Switzerland, April 2, 2009

ASSET4 AG, the leading provider of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) information, today announced that it has released its Sovereign Supra™ solution, which enables investors to integrate extra-financial information into their fixed income investments in order to improve performance and manage risk in these volatile times.

ASSET4 is now using its proven ESG methodology to monitor and evaluate the ESG performance of countries, local authorities, private and state-owned companies and supranationals – information that is playing an ever more important role in the creation of sovereign bond indices and products.

“During the current financial crisis there has been a flight to safety, which has led to an increase in interest in sovereign bonds. But at the same time investors want more transparency about the entities that make up these bonds, which is why our Sovereign Supra solution is important for today’s market,” said Peter Ohnemus, ASSET4 President and CEO. “Our solution is the most objective, transparent and flexible product on the market and will enable firms to create a new range of bond indices and products that are responsible and sustainable.”

The current universe covers 67 countries (Foreign Sovereign), 31 local authorities, 91 companies (Agency), 35 state-owned companies (Government Guaranteed) and 30 supranational entities. For each entity approximately 150 ESG key performance indicators (KPIs) are tracked including total CO2 emissions, biodiversity, corruption rank, income inequality and literacy rate.

Like all of ASSET4’s products, transparency is built-in, which means that users will be provided the values of the key performance indicators (KPIs) and raw data (publisher, publication date, etc.) for each KPI, as well as the scores for KPIs, categories, pillars and overall entity scores. All scores are computed based on performance and are not absolute but relative to the benchmark defined by the client.

The solution is completely flexible, allowing users to group KPIs into customised categories and/or select those they want to evaluate. Users can also choose the entities they are interested in and all scores and rankings will be based on the set of countries/companies selected by the user. These reports are now available in Excel and PDF formats and through a web-based product interface later in 2009.

Countries include: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States of America, Venezuela, Vietnam

Local authorities include: Quebec, Ontario, Baden-Württemberg, Bayern, Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hessen, Niedersachsen, NordRhein-Westfalen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Sachsen-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein, Thueringen, Catalunya, Comunidad Valenciana, Andalucia, Comunidad Madrid, Ayuntam de Madrid, City of Rome, Comune di Milano, Region of Lazio, Region of Sicily, Region of Campania, Sardinia Region, Region Marche, Friuli-Venezia, Region of Liguri, City of Naples, Tokyo Metropolitan Government, City of Moscow

State-Owned and Private Companies and Supranationals include: Caisse d’Amortissement de la Dette Sociale, Caisse Nationale des Autoroutes, Deutsche Bahn, Freddie Mac, La Poste, Reseau Ferre de France, Rentenbank, SNCF, ASFINAG, ERAP, Hypo Alpe-Adria-Bank International AG, Instituto de Credito Oficial, KFW, NRW.BANK, L-Bank, Oesterreichische KontrolBk., SCHIG, UNEDIC, European Investment Bank, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, EUROFIMA, Inter-American Development Bank, Council of Europe, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Nordic Investment Bank Europe

For a complete list, please contact ClientServices@asset4.com .

For a printable PDF of this press release, please click here.

Improving Sustainability: A New Tool to Increase Corporate Transparency

Zug, Switzerland, December 16, 2008

ASSET4 AG, the leading provider of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) information, today announced that it has just released its assetmasterExecutive™ solution, which enables corporate executives, board members, CSR managers, investor relations and corporate communication professionals to quickly and easily monitor their company‘s ESG performance and that of their peers.

In response to changing economic conditions and demands of long-term investors and other stakeholders, corporate executives are now analysing an expanded set of competitive parameters that include their carbon footprint, board independence and employee satisfaction for example. Today, executives must understand whether their performance in these and other extra-financial areas will enhance their ability to attract long-term investment or instead increase their level of overall enterprise risk. During this analysis they must answer a number of new questions, such as:

How is your response to climate change perceived by investors?
Are your policies about workers’ rights in developed and emerging countries giving you an edge or creating a reputational risk?
Are you implementing best practices in the area of corporate governance?
Is your level of transparency sufficient to ensure the trust of all stakeholders?

The assetmasterExecutive solution, which accesses ASSET4’s world’s largest database of objective and transparent ESG information, provides users answers to these questions and many more. With one click of the mouse users can monitor default configurations that contain 80 extra-financial key performance indicators (KPIs) with which to monitor their company and its peers. One configuration for example enables users to benchmark their performance against the Global Reporting Initiative standard. In addition, within each standard or customised benchmark best practices are identified for each KPI enabling users to see where they are a leader and where a laggard. Benchmarks can include any of the over 2300 companies covered by ASSET4.

“Corporate social responsibility has become an integral element to the business vocabulary of today’s leading executives because they understand that extra-financial issues play a fundamental role in their companies’ long-term success,” said Peter Ohnemus, ASSET4 CEO and President. “Having the ability to monitor and benchmark their extra-financial performance with one click of the mouse changes the game. While many executives may be aware of how their own company is performing in some of these areas, having instant access to the history of that performance and being able to see how other companies in their industry, sector or simply model companies in other fields are performing in direct comparison to their performance is unique. We believe that assetmasterExecutive can give corporate executives, board members and investor relations professionals a new tool to help them better understand and better communicate these issues to all stakeholders and better prepare them for the new business and regulatory reality that will be emerging in the months and years to come.”

To watch a short film describing the benefits and features of the assetmasterExecutive system, click here.

To download a PDF of the press release in English, click here.
To download a PDF of the press release in German, click here.

Storebrand Acquires Extra-Financial Information from ASSET4 to Enhance its Responsible Investment Strategies

Oslo, Norway – Zug, Switzerland, December 2, 2008

ASSET4 AG, the leading provider of quantifiable environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) information, and the Storebrand Group, a leading player in the Nordic market for pensions, life and health insurance, banking and asset management, jointly announced today that Storebrand has acquired a subscription for the ASSET4 ESG information solution. Storebrand plans to use the ASSET4 system to retrieve raw data for current research efforts. This will in turn free up resources to enable an increased level of engagement with companies in its investment universe.

“The Storebrand Group is a leader in the responsible investment community in Norway and beyond, and for many years has used its influence to contribute to sustainable development,” said Henrik Steffensen, Co-Founder and VP of Marketing for ASSET4. “They are also an organisation that ‘walks its talk’ – living up to the standards that they expect from other companies. In support of their three-pronged approach to investing that focuses on negative screening, best-in-class identification and engagement, the ASSET4 information solution will enable Storebrand to free up resources currently focused on data gathering.”

“We are currently tracking approximately 3000 companies to ensure that our investments do not contribute to unacceptable business practices. Data gathering for our 'Best in Class' analyses takes up a significant amount of our analysts’ time,” said Christine Tørklep Meisingset, Head of Responsible Investments for Storebrand. “ASSET4’s ESG database and tools will help simplify this process and enable us to focus our resources on developing constructive dialogues with companies. ASSET4 will provide us with objective evidence regarding sustainability practices, which in turn we can use as a basis for our analyses and engagement discussions. It is important to note that Storebrand will still perform in-house analyses of companies’ corporate responsibility performance.”

About Storebrand

The Storebrand Group, with roots back to 1767, is a leading player in the Nordic markets for pensions, life and health insurance, banking, P&C insurance and asset management. Storebrand acquired the Swedish life insurance and pensions provider SPP in December 2007. Storebrand's commitment to corporate responsibility represents a long-term strategy that is firmly anchored in the company's corporate vision and values. For more information, please visit www.storebrand.com.

To download a PDF of the press release, click here.

Vigeo Enhances its Ratings Capabilities with ASSET4 Data

Paris, France – Zug, Switzerland, November 21, 2008

Vigeo, the leading corporate social responsibility (CSR) ratings agency in Europe, and ASSET4 AG, the leading global provider of objective and measurable environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) information, today jointly announced that Vigeo has acquired a subscription for the ASSET4 ESG information solution. Vigeo has chosen to streamline its ESG research process by using a professional and recognised data collection service.

“Having access to the ASSET4 information and analysis tools reinforces our ability to evaluate a company’s overall CSR performance,” said Nicole Notat, Vigeo Chairwoman. “When we analyse a company we use a detailed and rigorous framework to evaluate its policies, implementation and results. ASSET4 offers a perfect input into this process by providing our analysts immediate access to over 250 key performance indicators for each company. This in turn will enable us to focus our research work on the qualitative assessment of this information and will result in an even more robust and multi-faceted view of a company’s corporate social responsibility performance. ASSET4 has appeared to us as a very reliable source of objective and traceable ESG information, which is why we are happy to be working with them.”

“We are very proud to have Vigeo as our client. Combining their leading CSR rating and analysis know-how and our industry-leading ESG data and tools creates an even stronger solution for their customers,” said Joachim Asbrede, ASSET4 Chief Operating Officer. “The recent credit crunch and stock market crisis have profoundly highlighted the importance of transparency and corporate social responsibility for investors and corporations alike, creating a new opportunity for our two companies. The ASSET4 solution offers a rich reservoir of new information and insights to strengthen the rating and analysis services that Vigeo is providing to investors and asset managers.”

About Vigeo

Vigeo is the Leading European Corporate Social Responsibility Ratings Agency. Vigeo measures the organisations’ CSR commitments, and identifies extra-financial risk and their level of management. Vigeo provides two services:

--SRI Analysis, Ratings and Benchmarks for investors and asset managers
--CSR Audits for companies and local governments

Our more than 80 CSR clients include ABP (Netherlands), AGF AM (France), AG2R (France), Asahi Life AM – ALAMCO (Japan), AXA IM (France), BNP-Paribas AM (France), Crédit Agricole (France), Crédit Coopératif (France), Delta Lloyd (Belgium), Dexia AM (Belgium), ERAFP (France), FRR (France), Groupama AM (France), HSBC AM (France), Lazard Frères Gestion (France), Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch & Cie (Switzerland), Natexis AM (France), RCM (UK), Société Générale AM (France) and others.

The Vigeo teams represent a staff of 80 and 14 different nationalities, on 4 locations: Paris, Brussels, Milan, Casablanca.
www.vigeo.com

To download a PDF of the press release in English, click here.
To download a PDF of the press release in French, click here.

AEGON Acquires ASSET4’s ESG Information to Better Understand ESG Risks and Opportunities

Edinburgh, United Kingdom - Zug, Switzerland, September 10, 2008

AEGON Asset Management (UK), which manages around £40 billion* of assets on behalf of individuals, institutions and insurance companies and ASSET4 AG, the leading provider of objective and measurable environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) information, today jointly announced that AEGON acquired a subscription for the ASSET4 ESG information solution. AEGON plans to use the ASSET4 information to enhance its understanding of the ESG risks and opportunities within its portfolios, a key requirement to implementing the UN’s Principles for Responsible Investment that AEGON signed in June 2008.

“AEGON Asset Management has been a front-runner in the development of ethical investment vehicles for more than two decades,” said Ryan Smith, AEGON’s Head of Corporate Governance & SRI. “By signing the UN’s Principles for Responsible Investment, we have further committed to incorporate ESG issues into investment analysis and decision-making processes throughout the organisation. The addition of the ASSET4 information solution to our research capabilities gives us an in-depth ability to identify and understand the ESG performance of each of the companies, industries and sectors that we invest in across all the funds we manage.”

“The reputation of AEGON Asset Management (UK) as a manager of responsible investment funds is well known, and we are very pleased that they have chosen to use our solution,” said Simon Rowell, ASSET4 Managing Director, UK. “Many of our clients tell us that after signing the Principles for Responsible Investment, beginning to implement them can be quite challenging. The ASSET4 ESG database, which is the world’s largest, along with our leading-edge evaluation and integration tools can directly support AEGON in this process. In addition, our solution can provide them with a new level of information to use in their engagement with companies on these issues, which is another important aspect of responsible investing.”

AEGON Asset Management

AEGON Asset Management manages around £40 billion* of assets in the UK and is a leading manager of fixed income investments with a growing reputation in UK equities and a distinguished record in ethical investing. AEGON Asset Management UK plc is a subsidiary of the AEGON NV group. From our head office in Edinburgh, we work closely with our colleagues in the US and the Netherlands; it gives us access to local expertise in key global markets. For more information, please visit www.aegonam.co.uk.

For a printable PDF of this release, click here.

Green Alpha Advisors Acquires ASSET4’s ESG Information Solution to Enhance its Investment Process

Zug, Switzerland and Boulder, Colorado, USA, August 19, 2008

Green Alpha Advisors, LLC, a Boulder, Colorado based SEC registered investment advisor (RIA) that specializes in environmentally sound investment strategies and ASSET4 AG, the leading provider of objective and measurable environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) information, today jointly announced that Green Alpha Advisors has acquired a subscription for the ASSET4 ESG information solution. Green Alpha Advisors plans to use the ASSET4 information to enhance its investment process that assesses each company on the basis of financial, business and environmental vectors of performance.

“With the assetmasterProfessional™ system and its Excel Add-In functionality, we will be able to incorporate ASSET4’s objective and transparent database of corporate ESG performance directly into our fundamental research,” said Green Alpha Advisors Co-Founder and CIO, Maria N. Potapov, CFA. “Our investment process integrates bottom-up fundamental research with robust quantitative methodologies to provide a series of passive (indices) and active (customized portfolios) investment vehicles exclusively constructed from securities of issuers with eco-efficient business models. ASSET4’s database that includes over 2,300 companies and over 250 key performance indicators, as well as access to the data sources is an enormous resource that will enhance our research process.”

“Green Alpha Advisors is one of the growing number of investment firms to recognize that the transition to an eco-efficient economy provides an opportunity for investors to achieve more return per unit of risk than alternative capital allocations,” said Ted Yarnell, ASSET4 VP of the Americas. “Up until now Green Alpha Advisors has been doing their own research to identify and monitor eco-efficient businesses that are transforming factors such as energy security, technological innovations, globalization and climate change into strong growth drivers. By integrating the ASSET4 information into their proprietary valuation methods, risk management techniques and optimization algorithms, Green Alpha Advisors will be able to rely on the depth and breadth of our information to enhance their on-going investment research capabilities and make them more efficient.”

Green Alpha Advisors, LLC

Green Alpha Advisors, LLC is a Boulder, Colorado based SEC registered investment advisor (RIA) that specializes in disciplined and objective fee-only money management services. They work with institutions and qualified individual investors who seek capital appreciation from passive and active allocations into environmentally sound investment strategies. Their investment thesis is that significant shareholder value can be earned in the critical and necessary process of making the global economy environmentally sustainable. The transition to an eco-efficient economic equilibrium provides more return opportunity per unit of risk than alternative capital allocations. Astute investors early to recognize and actualize this potential stand to be the greatest long-term beneficiaries. For more information, please visit http://www.greenalphaadvisors.com/.

For a printable PDF of this release, click here.

ASSET4 Makes ESG Monitoring Easy and Dynamic

Zug, Switzerland July 01, 2008

ASSET4 AG, the leading provider of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) information, today announced that it has just made monitoring extra-financial key performance indicators (KPIs) easy and dynamic with its new one-click ESG and ESG news tracking capabilities.

The new one-click ESG functionality now available from ASSET4 allows users to generate easy-to-read analysis and benchmarking reports on the ESG performance of a company against its peers based on 90 customisable KPIs with a single click of the mouse.

The assetmasterProfessional™ news functionality announced today enables users to dynamically monitor the news flow for any or all of the eighteen data categories within the system, such as emission reduction, human rights and health & safety. These criteria can be monitored for a single company, portfolio, sector or geographic region.

“ESG factors have now clearly become a mainstream concern for the financial community and the corporate world as a whole. Therefore, we realised that it was necessary to make this information more dynamic and easier to use, which is why we announced the one-click ESG and ESG news tracking capabilities today,” said Peter Ohnemus, ASSET4 CEO and President. “Having the ability to create a one-click ESG view of key KPIs enables clients to efficiently monitor the issues affecting them. assetmasterProfessional™ users can still view the complete range of data points and KPIs that we maintain on our universe of companies, but the one-click ESG functionality will provide a new way of visualising and understanding this at times complex information."

"The importance of the news functionality comes from the fact that while a company’s ESG performance is clearly based on long-term and strategic management decisions, day-to-day events also play an important part in valuation and reputation. Having the ability to dynamically monitor events based on very specific ESG criteria allows our users to stay ahead of the game in their analysis,” said Mr. Ohnemus.

For a printable PDF of this release, click here.

To read the entire article in German, please click here.
To read the entire article in French, please click here.

SIRP, a Leading CSR Research Institute, to Incorporate ASSET4’s Investment Information into Their Analysis

Zug, Switzerland and Umeå, Sweden, June 17, 2008

The Sustainable Investment Research Platform (SIRP), whose mission is to enhance the understanding of the economic value of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and ASSET4 AG, the leading provider of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) information, today jointly announced that SIRP has acquired a subscription for the ASSET4 information solution. SIRP plans on using the data to investigate issues such as: Does CSR improve the profitability of companies? Is CSR valued and rewarded in financial markets? How do companies create and maintain intangible values inherent in CSR?

“With access to ASSET4’s objective and comprehensive ESG data the researchers that collaborate through our platform can now focus on their research topics without having to collect the data themselves,“ said Professor Lars Hassel, Director of SIRP. “SIRP was founded at Umeå University’s School of Business in 2006 and has produced a number of well-received academic studies on the business case for sustainable development. Having the ability to access ASSET4’s predefined key performance indicators (KPIs), as well as create own, will allow us to more efficiently and effectively focus on our mission—researching the economic value of corporate social responsibility.”

“As an ASSET4 university partner, we believe that SIRP can play an important role in investigating the impact of ESG issues on corporate and market performance,” said Henrik Steffensen, ASSET4’s VP of Business Development. “The questions that SIRP is asking about sustainable development are the questions our clients and prospects are also asking. We believe that supporting this analytical research is a key to the continued growth and acceptance of sustainable development by the business community and the market. We look forward to being in dialogue with SIRP as we both strive to make sustainable development the accepted best practice for the world’s leading companies.”

Sustainable Investment Research Platform (SIRP)

SIRP is a research consortium on sustainable investments founded by the Mistra (www.mistra.org) Sustainable Investment Research Platform and led by Professor Lars Hassel at Umeå School of Business at Umeå University. The research programme was initiated January 1st 2006 and Mistra has this June decided to prolong the research program by providing additional 40 MSEK (4.3 M€) to the end of 2012. The Sustainable investment Research Platform is also a supporting partner to the annual Financial Times Sustainable Banking Conference and Awards in London and is the 2008 winner of the Globe Award recognising the leading CSR research institute in Sweden. For more information, please visit www.sirp.se.

For a printable PDF of this release, click here.

Merrill Lynch to Market Alternative Research Through a New Service Called Merrill Open Minds

New York, United States, April 09, 2008

Launches Merrill Open Minds with Seven Alternative Research Providers

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER) today launched Merrill Open Minds, a service that makes available alternative research products and services as a complement to the firm’s industry-leading fundamental research and analysis. The new service addresses the increasing demand from hedge funds, mutual funds and other institutions for a broader array of specialized research resources to help them make investment decisions.

Merrill Open Minds has reached agreement initially with seven alternative research providers with expertise in extra-financial information, corporate integrity risk, federal policy, healthcare, media, energy and consumer surveys. They are: Asset 4; Audit Integrity; Cypress Group; Decision Resources; Global Media Intelligence; HPDI and Primary Source. Further information about each of these services is available through the newly launched Merrill Open Minds website at: www.merrillopenminds.ml.com.

Merrill Lynch will market these research providers to institutional trading clients through the firm’s global institutional and sector specialist sales teams.

“Our research, sales and trading professionals are uniquely positioned to identify alternative research providers with specialized expertise relevant to our clients’ investment processes,” said Michael Stewart, head of Global Cash Equities at Merrill Lynch. “Merrill Open Minds provides an efficient way for our clients to access these specialized third-party providers.”

Merrill Lynch specifically chose alliances that complement the firm’s own industry-leading research products.

“Making third-party research available through Merrill Lynch will enrich our interaction with our clients as they engage in the dynamic process of evaluating investments,” said Candace Browning, president of Global Research at Merrill Lynch. “Merrill Open Minds will marry our award-winning in-house fundamental investment research with a broader set of different kinds of services, providing our institutional clients with complementary content offerings.”

Offering access to these research providers will not only enable Merrill Lynch to participate in the fast-growing third-party research market, but also adds value to Merrill Lynch's leading global execution platform.

“The third-party research market is currently worth $1.5 billion and is experiencing double-digit growth every year,” said Mr. Stewart. “Moreover, trading volumes are correlated with quality research content, and by complementing our proprietary research with third-party content, we expect to attract incremental trading volumes.”

Third-party providers aligning with Merrill Open Minds will benefit from the breadth and expertise of Merrill Lynch’s global sales platform.

“We chose Merrill Open Minds because Merrill Lynch has the whole package -- highly-regarded fundamental research, a high-touch generalist and sector specialist sales teams that can bring the right product to the right client, and a world-class trading platform,” said Peter Hoenigsberg, chief executive officer of Decision Resources, Inc. “They help us understand how to present and tailor our research offering specifically to the needs of key asset managers.”

About The Resources Available Through Merrill Open Minds

ASSET4 provides objective and measurable extra-financial information, incorporating a complete range of economic, environmental, social and governance (EESG) information. This information enables users to improve investment performance, reduce risk, develop innovative products and drive down research costs.

Audit Integrity rates more than 8,000 public corporations for corporate integrity risk. These proprietary ratings and analyses are used by investors, insurers, auditors and corporate finance professionals to identify and avoid high risk companies. Audit Integrity also forecasts risks involving equity performance, class action litigation, and material financial restatement.

Cypress Group provides insight on Washington policy to investment managers who are seeking to inform their analysis of financial services, health care and other sectors as well as M&A activity and other events. Cypress provides an edge to investment managers by using a rigorous research methodology and diverse network of Washington sources to forecast the probable outcome of policy changes.

Decision Resources, Inc. provides research on the trends, emerging developments, and market potential in various healthcare industry sectors, as well as advisory and consulting services. Its client base includes large pharmaceutical companies, emerging biotechnology concerns, financial services, managed care organizations, and medical device manufacturers looking for research and advisory services to help shape their strategy.

Global Media Intelligence is a premiere source of data, analyses and forecasts for the global media industry, with a team of over 40 media analysts providing detailed models and industry reports covering television, motion pictures, video games, mobile media, home entertainment and broadband media. A part of Screen Digest, its client base includes many significant cable, media and entertainment companies looking to gain insight on market dynamics globally.

HPDI, LLC collates historic data on oil and gas production, drilling permits, transportation, gas plants, refineries and pricing and provides clients customized applications in order to format the data for GIS maps, charts, reports and exports for secondary applications. The products are used by many large oil and gas producers and pipelines in their analysis of oil and gas production trends.

Primary Source is a Merrill Lynch product offering, providing customized consumer market studies that give clients information about a product or service from the perspective of the end user. The goal is to provide clients with extensive, statistically-reliable, and properly-interpreted channel information by conducting surveys of end users. Primary Source clients typically receive their reports and analyses within a week.

Merrill Lynch is one of the world's leading wealth management, capital markets and advisory companies, with offices in 40 countries and territories and total client assets of almost $2 trillion. As an investment bank, it is a leading global trader and underwriter of securities and derivatives across a broad range of asset classes and serves as a strategic advisor to corporations, governments, institutions and individuals worldwide. Merrill Lynch owns approximately half of BlackRock, one of the world's largest publicly traded investment management companies, with more than $1 trillion in assets under management. For more information on Merrill Lynch, please visit www.ml.com.

Ethical Funds Enhances Its Review Process by Acquiring ASSET4’s Investment Information Solution

Vancouver, Canada - Zug, Switzerland, March 03, 2008

The Ethical Funds Company, a national investment firm and leader of the socially responsible investing (SRI) industry in Canada for over 20 years and ASSET4 AG, the leading provider of objective and measurable environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) information, today jointly announced that Ethical Funds acquired a subscription for the ASSET4 information solution. Ethical Funds plans to integrate ASSET4 information into its proprietary Corporate Sustainability Scorecard processes that it uses to manage its $2.7 billion in assets under management.

“We have made a commitment to ‘reinvent how people see profit’ and to achieve that we take a holistic approach to evaluating corporate performance,” said Robert Walker, Vice President Sustainability, Ethical Funds. “At the heart of these processes are ESG data. With the ASSET4 information system, including their global focus, we now have access to the most comprehensive source of environmental, social and governance data available today. This information will integrate seamlessly into our existing processes enabling our Sustainability Analysts to focus on what they do best: apply our proprietary metrics to evaluate, analyze, and grade the sustainability performance of investment prospects and the companies we own.”

“Ethical Funds is a leader in the SRI investment industry in Canada and has an established, sophisticated process to evaluate the overall financial and ESG performance of companies,” said Ted Yarnell, Vice President and General Manager of ASSET4’s business in the Americas. “Our assetmasterProfessional™ system gives Ethical Funds access to a broader range of ESG information than they have had before and frees up their analysts from the time-consuming task of collecting the data themselves. By integrating the ASSET4’s objective and auditable information directly into the day-to-day processes of the Ethical Funds sustainability analysts, the analysts can now concentrate on interpreting the information and grading the sustainability performance of companies.”

The Ethical Funds Company

Launched in 1992, Ethical Funds is Canada’s leading manager of socially responsible mutual funds, delivering a successful track-record of combing financial performance with making good companies better. Ethical Funds has multiple award-winning funds and Canada’s largest team of sustainability analysts. Ethical Funds is owned by Northwest & Ethical Investments LP.

ASSET4 Named a "Red Herring 100 Global" Award Winner

Zug, Switzerland, December 07, 2007

ASSET4 announced today that it has been selected as a winner of the Red Herring 100 Global Award.

Red Herring 100 winners and finalists from North America, Europe and Asia of the last three years were eligible for this award. The Red Herring editorial team used a very competitive process to whittle down this pool of 1800 eligible promising companies to the 100 winners of this first-time award. Evaluations were made on both quantitative and qualitative criteria such as financial performance, innovation, management, global strategy and ecosystem integration.

“ASSET4 is extremely proud that we are a winner of the ’Red Herring 100 Global‘ Award. This prize is another indication of the importance of our highly innovative solution and the growing significance of extra-financial information in today’s investment world. ASSET4 offers professional investors a new generation of investment research information and tools to assist them in better understanding the need to work with a complete range of corporate EESG (economic, environmental, social and governance) information. Up until now only purely financial information has been available, but we are changing all that with our solution,” explained Peter Ohnemus, CEO and President of ASSET4.

The winning companies were announced and celebrated at the Red Herring Global event in Seattle, WA, on December 3-5.

About ASSET4

ASSET4 provides professional investors a new generation of investment research information enabling them to incorporate objective and measurable ESG (environmental, social, governance) information into their investment processes. The ASSET4 information and tools enable clients to improve investment performance, reduce risk, develop innovative products, drive down research costs and monitor the ESG aspects of their portfolios. ASSET4 has 200 employees and is headquartered in Zug, Switzerland with locations in London, New York, Mauritius and India. It is a proud signatory of the UN's Principles for Responsible Investment.

About Red Herring

Red Herring is a global media company uniting the world’s best high technology innovators, venture investors and business decision makers in a variety of forums: a leading innovation magazine; an online daily technology news service; technology research, and major events for technology leaders around the globe. Red Herring provides an insider’s access to the global innovation economy, featuring unparalleled insights on the emerging technologies driving the economy. For more information, visit www.redherring.com.

ASSET4 to Provide BNP Paribas Asset Management with a New Generation of Investment Research Information

Paris, France - Zug, Switzerland, October 03, 2007

ASSET4 Ltd, a leading provider of corporate ESG (environmental, social and corporate governance) information, today announced that BNP Paribas Asset Management, a leader in the European asset management industry, has acquired a global license for the ASSET4 information solution. BNPP AM plans to integrate ASSET4 information into its Responsible investment research, product structuring and portfolio management.

"BNP Paribas Asset Management is a widely recognised asset management leader offering a broad range of innovative products. Their commitment to integrating objective and measurable ESG information into their portfolio monitoring demonstrates a true responsiveness to the needs of the market and to the increasing importance of these issues for mainstream, professional, performance-oriented asset management," said Peter Ohnemus, CEO and President of ASSET4.

The ASSET4 solution offers investment professionals the only source for comprehensive and impartial ESG information, as well as the tools necessary to track, analyze and benchmark the practices and performance of their funds, portfolios and companies. By monitoring 900 specific economic, environmental, social and governance data points, the ASSET4 system enables users to see beyond the purely financial aspects of corporate performance, which are today believed to represent less than 20% of a company’s market value. This more complete view enables asset managers, like BNPP AM, to improve investment performance, reduce risk, develop innovative products, drive down research costs and monitor the ESG aspects of their portfolios.

Eric Borremans, Head of Sustainability Research at BNP Paribas Asset Management, stated, "BNP Paribas Asset Management is a recognised global leader in the field of responsible investment. By acquiring the ASSET4 information solution, we are enhancing our ability to address the increasing demand from pension funds and other clients to apply sustainability criteria when managing their assets. We can now utilise the ASSET4 system to actively and systematically manage the responsible investment frameworks defined by a growing number of our clients. ASSET4 is a comprehensive, impartial and scalable source of ESG information available. The system enables us at any time to trace back what information we are basing our recommendations on for audit purposes, as well as to create added-value capabilities for our clients such as ESG strengths and weaknesses analyses. We believe that this new information source will allow us to expand the scope of our research universe and ESG analyses."

Sustainable and responsible investment has, since 2002, occupied a major place in BNPP AM’s activities and is reflected in their leading role in several initiatives on subjects such as the transparency of management processes, support for extra-financial research, and key issues such as climate change, social reinsertion and support for academic research. BNPP AM is a founding member of the Enhanced Analytics Initiative, an international initiative created by pension funds and asset management companies with the aim of encouraging stockbrokers and independent research companies to take extra-financial criteria into account.

BNP Paribas Asset Management
BNP Paribas Asset Management is a European leader in traditional, indexed and structured investment management. Original core activity of BNP Paribas Investment Partners, BNP Paribas Asset Management has euro 244 billion of assets under management*, and more than 800 people servicing clients in 69 countries. It offers a wide range of management capabilities with a shared focus on innovation, robustness and consistency of investment processes as well as accuracy of risk control. BNP Paribas Asset Management’s excellence is reflected by Fitch’s second-highest rating: M2. For more information, please visit www.bnpparibas-am.com.

* Figures as at 30 June 2007, assets under advisory included.

ASSET4 AG

ASSET4 provides a new generation of investment research information to professional investors allowing them to incorporate objective and measurable ESG (environmental, social, governance) information into their decision-making processes. The ASSET4 information and tools enable clients to improve investment performance, reduce risk, develop innovative products, drive down research costs and monitor the ESG aspects of their portfolios. ASSET4 has 200 employees and is headquartered in Zug, Switzerland with locations in London, New York and Mauritius. It is a proud signatory of the United Nation's Principles for Responsible Investment. For more information, please visit www.asset4.com.

To read the entire article in German, please click here.

To read the entire article in French, please click here.

ASSET4 announces strategic relationship with Merrill Lynch

New York, USA - Zug, Switzerland, September 27, 2007

Merrill Lynch acquires global license to incorporate ASSET4’s investment information
Merrill Lynch takes minority equity stake in ASSET4

ASSET4 Ltd, a leading provider of corporate ESG (environmental, social and corporate governance) information announced today that Merrill Lynch has entered into a strategic marketing relationship with ASSET4 and has acquired a global license to incorporate ASSET4’s integrated ESG investment information into its investment research and product structuring. In addition, Merrill Lynch has made a minority investment in ASSET4.

Mike Stewart, head of Global Cash Equities at Merrill Lynch, stated, “We recognize the growing importance of ESG information to the investing and corporate community and believe ASSET4 is a global leader in providing such information."

Added Candace Browning, president of Merrill Lynch Global Research, “The ASSET4 framework enhances our ability to address the increasing demand from individual and institutional clients to review sustainability criteria. This new information source will allow Merrill Lynch analysts to augment their research analyses by also evaluating the non-financial aspects of companies.”

“This agreement with Merrill Lynch is another major win for ASSET4 and another indication that we are the leading provider of extra-financial information. In our hyper-transparent world, leading asset managers are clearly recognizing the need for precise, quantifiable ESG information for investment research, quant models, financial products and portfolio monitoring. We are very excited to have one of the foremost players in the wealth management and capital markets industries as a client and non-controlling investor. With Merrill Lynch and other leading financial institutions behind ASSET4, we are setting the standard for a new generation of investment research information,” said Peter Ohnemus, CEO, president and co-founder of ASSET4.

The ASSET4 solution offers investment professionals with a premiere source for comprehensive and impartial ESG information, as well as the tools necessary to track, analyze and benchmark the practices and performance of their funds, portfolios and companies. By monitoring 900 specific economic, environmental, social and governance data points, the ASSET4 system enables users to see beyond the purely financial aspects of corporate performance.

Merrill Lynch

Merrill Lynch is one of the world's leading wealth management, capital markets and advisory companies, with offices in 38 countries and territories and total client assets of approximately $1.7 trillion. As an investment bank, it is a leading global trader and underwriter of securities and derivatives across a broad range of asset classes and serves as a strategic advisor to corporations, governments, institutions and individuals worldwide. Merrill Lynch owns approximately half of BlackRock, one of the world's largest publicly traded investment management companies, with more than $1 trillion in assets under management. For more information on Merrill Lynch, please visit www.ml.com.

ASSET4 AG

To read the entire article in German, please click here.

To read the entire article in French, please click here.

INrate Gets Access to ASSET4’s Worldwide Research Information

Zürich and Zug, Switzerland, September, 2007

INrate, the largest independent Swiss sustainability rating agency is now increasing their analysis capabilities in order to enhance their range of services for their clients. Through their agreement with ASSET4, INrate will get access to the ASSET4 system, which is the largest system worldwide including information on the full range of environmental, social and corporate governance issues on the world’s largest companies.

With this new cooperative agreement, INrate the largest and independent Swiss rating agency reaches another milestone in their history. INrate is professionalizing their rating processes for sustainable investing on two levels.

Advantage based on permanent access to published corporate data

Modern sustainability research is topic-oriented (e.g. climate), analyses the characteristics of companies (e.g. water consumption or energy consumption) worldwide and offers the possibility to implement an individual sustainability profile (e.g. select exclusion criteria). With the permanent access to the worldwide data of ASSET4, INrate can guarantee the quality and flexibility of their information sources that the market demands. The possibility to customize the information according to specific needs and to put them together in a flexible manner is a substantial advantage of the ASSET4 system.

Christoph Müller, Chair of Board of Directors, explains, "ASSET4 offers the INrate analysts 24-hour access to publicly available corporate data worldwide. This enables us to know more details about companies in an efficient manner and to further develop our services."

Unique rating method: Various level of analyses lead to transparency and to added value

An important aspect of the more developed analysis capabilities from INrate is the structuring of their rating processes. These processes will include the following steps: INrate

Analyses and assesses the data from ASSET4
Gets further information directly from the companies
Creates their own analyses about sector-specific sustainable performance data

From this base of information, INrate then creates a comprehensive rating of companies. Collecting information and the evaluation of this data is clearly separated from the analysis and the judgment. This is a new procedure for the creation of sustainability ratings and will provide a real added value for their customers.

Peter Ohnemus, CEO and President of ASSET4, is looking forward to the cooperation with INrate, "As an independent sustainability rating agency, INrate has the highest demands about the comparability and accuracy of the information that is underlying their ratings. We are very proud that we could win another future-oriented partner for our system. The concentration on core competencies, such as the gathering of information or analysis/interpretation, which we know from traditional financial analysis, is trailblazing for sustainability analysis."

INrate AG

INrate is the largest independent Swiss rating agency, which analyses and evaluates the environmental and social sustainability of companies, institutions and countries. Based on these ratings, INrate builds investment universes and themed indices or baskets, which serve the asset managers and financial services providers as the foundation for the creation of sustainable and financially attractive portfolios and investment products. INrate provides the sustainable investment universe for the Future Swiss Stock Fund from Raiffeisen Bank, which in 2007 again won the Lipper Fund Award in the Swiss stock category. The fund achieved higher three-year and five-year performance of any other stocks in its category.

ASSET4 AG

To read the entire article in German, please click here.

ASSET4 Strengthens Management Team by Hiring Joachim Asbrede as Chief Operating Officer

Zug, Switzerland, August 23, 2007

Joachim Asbrede joins ASSET4 as Chief Operating Officer.
Mr. Asbrede brings over 25 years of sales and management experience from the global IT and software industries.
In addition to managing the company’s global day-to-day operations and sales in continental Europe, Mr. Asbrede will be creating a new professional services organisation.

ASSET4 AG, the leading provider of corporate ESG (1) information for professional investors, today announced that Joachim Asbrede is joining the company as Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Asbrede brings over 25 years of sales and management experience spanning many countries, products and service lines from the global IT and software industries. In addition to managing the company’s global day-to-day operations and sales in continental Europe, Mr. Asbrede will be creating a new professional services organisation.

“As our company continues to grow, adding Joachim Asbrede to our management team is a key step in developing a world-class investment information organisation,” said Peter Ohnemus, ASSET4 CEO and President. “Joachim’s years with large international organisations like Oracle and Baan have given him a depth of operational insight and experience from which our entire company and client base will benefit.”

“Helping guide ASSET4 as it grows its organisation is a great chance for me to use my full range of experience,” said Joachim Asbrede, ASSET4 Chief Operating Officer. “Peter Ohnemus and his team have a done an incredible job over the last three years in developing the leadership position in the investment research information field. It is essential we have world-class processes in place as ASSET4 enters this next stage of growth.”

Prior to joining ASSET4, Joachim Asbrede worked for nine years at Oracle, as Vice President and Managing Director for Switzerland, Austria and Croatia. During this time he led a dramatic turnaround of Oracle’s business operations, while increasing margins and improving performance. Before coming to Oracle, Mr. Asbrede was initially the Managing Director for Germany for Baan Business Systems and later managed acquisitions and divestures for the organisation on a European level.

He started his career with Honeywell Bull in 1979. There he gained a wide-range of experience in his roles as Consulting Manager, Sales Manager, Marketing Manager and eventually as Business Unit Manager on a European level, responsible for the entire software and service business.

Joachim Asbrede sits on the Advisory Board of SIMSA, the Swiss Interactive Media and Software Association and chairs the European Business Consortium, EBUCON AG, providing license management and sales outsourcing services. He holds a Diploma in Economics and is an alumni of London Business School. He is married and has three children. In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with his family and occasionally playing golf. He actively supports a children’s cancer program.

1) Environmental, Social and Governance

Bank Sarasin to license ASSET4 data

Basel/Zug, Switzerland, February 1st, 2007

ASSET4 to provide Bank Sarasin with environmental, social and governance (ESG) data
Bank Sarasin expands sustainability investing activities
ASSET4's ESG data will support Bank Sarasin's Sustainability Research

Bank Sarasin & Co. Ltd, a Swiss Private Bank known as one of Europe's leading sustainable investment products developers, and ASSET4 Ltd, a leading provider of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) data on global corporations, today jointly announced that Bank Sarasin is to acquire a global license to use ASSET4's ESG data and framework for its investment research, product structuring and portfolio management processes.

Andreas Knoerzer, Director Sustainable Investments at Bank Sarasin, says: "Sustainable Investment is one of Bank Sarasin's key competencies and is developing very dynamically. The fact that other "big players" have entered the Sustainable Investment business recently supports our conviction that the market will continue its dynamic development. Consequently we will expand this business by assigning additional resources for portfolio management and research. We now utilise the ASSET4 platform to provide data for our Sustainability Research. It is the most comprehensive, scalable and objective ESG database available. It allows expanding our research universe and ESG analyses.”

"Bank Sarasin's sustainable investment products are the industry benchmarks. We are excited to work with a leader in the field of sustainable investing. Bank Sarasin's approach underlines the relevance of ESG factors in the investment process and demonstrates that sustainable investment products are increasingly becoming mainstream ingredients of professional, performance-oriented wealth management," says Peter Ohnemus, CEO and President of ASSET4.

"We are independent and proud of our neutral and objective sustainability analysis, which boosts our credibility with customers. ASSET4's data supports this approach. We can use ASSET4 ESG data as "raw information" for our research while concentrating on ESG analyses and evaluations using our own methodology and client specific modeling," adds Bank Sarasin's Andreas Knoerzer.

"Including extra-financials and intangibles in the investment decision process has fast become best practice in the global asset management industry. Therefore, wealth managers need independent and systematic data on these issues,” explains ASSET4's Peter Ohnemus.

The ASSET4 IntegratedRating™ framework offers investment professionals ESG data and the tools necessary to track, analyze and benchmark the practices and performance of their funds, portfolios and companies. By monitoring over 250 specific economic, environmental, social and governance factors, the ASSET4 system enables users to see beyond the purely financial aspects of companies, thereby benefiting from an integrated perspective of public quoted companies performance.

Bank Sarasin pioneered research of sustainability criteria in 1989 and launched the world's first investment fund based on the concept of eco-efficiency back in 1994. Today its sustainable investment team of 19 employees is one of Europe's largest and most experienced. Bank Sarasin offers customers one-stop shopping for sustainability products. The integration of its experienced research team into the portfolio management process means that their products and advisory services are of unparalleled quality.

To read the entire press release, please click here.

Um die gesamte Pressemitteilung in Deutsch zu lesen, klicken Sie bitte hier

ASSET4 Enters into a Strategic Relationship
with Goldman Sachs

Zug, Switzerland, June 29, 2006

ASSET4 and Goldman Sachs forge a client marketing alliance
Goldman Sachs licenses ASSET4 extra-financial information
Goldman Sachs participates in ASSET4's latest financing round

ASSET4 Ltd, a leading provider of extra-financial data on global corporations, is proud to announce that Goldman Sachs has acquired a global license to incorporate ASSET4's environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) data and framework into their investment research, benchmarking, portfolio monitoring and risk management processes. In addition, Goldman Sachs committed to a minority interest in the latest financing round of ASSET4 and will market the ASSET4 system to its global client base.

“We are excited to work with a leader in the global investment banking industry. This commitment sends a strong signal about the future direction of integrated investment research information,” said Peter Ohnemus, CEO and Chairman of ASSET4. “This further key milestone for ASSET4 comes only days after ASSET4's coverage universe has passed the 700 company mark.”

The ASSET4 IntegratedRating™ framework offers investment professionals and corporate executives the tools necessary to track, analyze and benchmark the practices and performance of their funds, portfolios and companies. By monitoring over 250 specific economic, environmental, social and governance factors, the ASSET4 system enables users to see beyond the purely financial aspects of companies, thereby benefiting from an integrated perspective of corporate performance.

“We believe that the ASSET4 product offering will have broad applicability across our global investor client base” said Michael Sanders, Managing Director in the Equities Division of Goldman Sachs. “It appeals to a range of clients, from institutional investors with socially-responsible investment (SRI) mandates to hedge funds looking for unique sources of alpha generation. We are pleased to have the opportunity to introduce the ASSET4 service to our clients.”

Suzanne Nora Johnson, Vice Chairman of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. and Global Head of Investment Research, said: “With increasing frequency, our clients around the world are relying on extra-financial data to gain deeper insights into corporate strategy, governance and financial performance. By integrating ASSET4's system into our global research offering we can provide a unique investment perspective to our investor clients.”

“The recognition of the importance of extra-financials and intangibles has been growing for a number of years now, and this partnership with Goldman Sachs is a clear sign that ESG issues have become an essential requirement to achieve world-class investment research and asset management,” said Henrik Steffensen, VP Marketing and co-founder of ASSET4. “Today, the financial world needs more than ever access to independent and systematic data on these issues.”

ASSET4 evaluates a company by means of a very clear and methodical process. The scientifically validated and model-based evaluation contains no interpretation of the data, and is a result of a range of multivariate statistical analysis methods comparing companies' financial performance with their performance in the extra-financial areas. ASSET4 bases all its analysis on publicly available company information allowing for an objective assessment and benchmarking of company performance.

About ASSET4

ASSET4 is the world's leading provider of comprehensive, integrated and transparent financial and extra-financial information, essential to understand and manage the long-term performance and risk profiles of public quoted corporations. The ASSET4 IntegratedRating™ framework offers investment professionals and corporate executives the tools to track, analyze and benchmark the practices and performance of their portfolios, funds and companies. By monitoring over 250 economic, environmental, social and governance factors, the ASSET4 system enables users to see beyond the purely financial aspects of companies and benefit from a broad and integrated perspective of corporate performance. Users benefit from better-informed investment and strategic decisions, reduced investment research costs and enhanced client-reporting capabilities. The company is headquartered in Switzerland and employs 130 people with a wide range of scientific and business backgrounds.

ASSET4 Expands Its Universe to 500 Companies

Zug, Switzerland, April 20, 2006

ASSET4 is pleased to announce that it now provides its customers in-depth, transparent and integrated information on 500 of the world's leading corporations. By gathering and validating data on over 250 specific economic, environmental, social and governance factors for each company in its universe, ASSET4 has created the largest collection of integrated financial and extra-financial information in the world.

However, ASSET4 is not stopping there. It is committed to continuing to expand its reach. The rapid growth of the universe, which consisted of 160 corporations at the end of 2005, will continue until it includes more than 1200 companies by the end of 2006 and all 3000 organizations within the MCSI World Index.

"Ensuring that our customers have access to systematic and validated financial and extra-financial information on the leading corporations in the world is a fundamental commitment of ASSET4 and reaching 500 companies is an important milestone to achieving that goal," said Henrik Steffensen, Vice President of Marketing and Business Development for ASSET4. "Because we are the only organization covering the full spectrum of economic, environmental, social and governance issues in depth, we believe that at this moment the ASSET4 IntegratedRating^TM framework provides the most extensive coverage of intangibles in the industry. We are very proud of our over 100 analysts who have made this rapid growth possible."

ASSET4 evaluates a company by means of a very clear and methodical process against each of the indicators that it tracks. The scientifically validated and model-based evaluation ASSET4 provides contains no interpretation of the data, and is a result of a range of multivariate statistical analysis methods comparing companies' financial performance with their performance in the extra-financial areas.

ASSET4 bases all its analysis of company performance and potential opportunity/risk areas along with its benchmarking framework on publicly available company information. Publicly available information is extremely important because it provides a level playing field for all companies and allows for an objective assessment and benchmarking of company performance.

ASSET4 Announces UBS As Client and Strategic Design Partner

ASSET4 is pleased to announce UBS Global Research as a client and strategic design partner for the ASSET4 IntegratedRating System.

"The agreement, which was finalized several months ago, provides UBS research with early access to our ASSET4 IntegratedRating platform, a system that combines financial and extra-financial information with benchmarking capability. This arrangement will enable us to get their initial feedback on the viability of the system. At the same time, we are delighted to have one of the world's largest asset managers as a client and partner," said Peter Ohnemus, CEO and President of ASSET4.

After a few months of using the system, Tom Hill, Global Head of Research at UBS said: "Economic, environmental, social and governance factors have an impact on the value of the firm, but are not shown in financial accounts and often crystallize without warning. A systematic approach is needed to deal with this issue: this is exactly what the ASSET4 platform provides."

Background Information

The importance of actively managing the risks and opportunities arising from economic, environmental and social trends in an increasingly complex and interconnected world, combined with rising public expectations regarding better accountability and corporate governance, presents a whole new set of opportunities and challenges to corporate executives and the financial industry.

It is commonly recognized that 30-40% of a company's value is based on tangible financial data, whereas 70-60% of the value is based on extra-financials that are difficult to quantify. The asset management industry acknowledges the importance of including extra-financials in investment decisions and in engaging with companies, but until now there has been no systematic and transparent way of achieving this. At the same time, corporate executives and board members are under increasing legal and pub-lic pressure to provide full disclosure and transparency, as well as to defend their strategies and decision-making. Corporate liabilities and obligations no longer simply refer to short-term financial performance, but have expanded to include extra-financial aspects, such as carbon trading, asbestos litigation and workforce quality.

ASSET4 provides the information and applications to combine financial and extra-financial fundamentals for an overall picture of the long-term performance and risk profile of publicly quoted corporations. Investors can complement their use of financial information systems with ASSET4 to integrate extra-financials in their investment process in a systematic and transparent way. ASSET4 provides corporate executives and board members with a platform that gives them an integrated view of corporate performance and facilitates knowledge-based decision-making for the long-term performance of their companies.

Press Releases

Colonial First State Appoints ASSET4 as ESG Research Provider

Thomson Reuters Invests in Environmental, Social Responsibility and Governance Content Through the Acquisition of ASSET4

Supply-Chain Labor and Human Rights Policies are Becoming the Norm for Large Cap Companies

About The IRRC Institute

About The Pensions and Capital Stewardship Project of the Labor and Worklife Program, Harvard Law School

QSG Confirms Positive Relationship Between ESG Factors and Financial Performance Using ASSET4 Data, Quantitative Analysis

About Quantitative Services Group LLC

ASSET4 Partners with Consulting Company 21C to Serve the Dutch Investment Community

About 21C

KBC Asset Management Acquires ASSET4’s ESG Information to Expand its Sustainability Research and Analysis Resources

KBC Asset Management NV

Nestlé Benchmarks Its Sustainability Performance Using the ASSET4 Solution

NYSE Euronext Partners With ASSET4 to Provide Corporate Transparency Tool to Listed Issuers

Background

About NYSE Euronext

TD Asset Management Enhances Sustainable Investment Research with ASSET4 Data

About TD Asset Management

Andrew White Joins ASSET4 as Senior Sales Director

ASSET4 Expands Client Services Organisation

ASSET4 Carbon Data & Estimates Available Now

A New Extra-Financial Solution for Fixed Income Investments

Improving Sustainability: A New Tool to Increase Corporate Transparency

Storebrand Acquires Extra-Financial Information from ASSET4 to Enhance its Responsible Investment Strategies

About Storebrand

Vigeo Enhances its Ratings Capabilities with ASSET4 Data

About Vigeo

AEGON Acquires ASSET4’s ESG Information to Better Understand ESG Risks and Opportunities

AEGON Asset Management

Green Alpha Advisors Acquires ASSET4’s ESG Information Solution to Enhance its Investment Process

Green Alpha Advisors, LLC

ASSET4 Makes ESG Monitoring Easy and Dynamic

SIRP, a Leading CSR Research Institute, to Incorporate ASSET4’s Investment Information into Their Analysis

Sustainable Investment Research Platform (SIRP)

Merrill Lynch to Market Alternative Research Through a New Service Called Merrill Open Minds

Launches Merrill Open Minds with Seven Alternative Research Providers

About The Resources Available Through Merrill Open Minds

Ethical Funds Enhances Its Review Process by Acquiring ASSET4’s Investment Information Solution

The Ethical Funds Company

ASSET4 Named a "Red Herring 100 Global" Award Winner

About ASSET4

About Red Herring

ASSET4 to Provide BNP Paribas Asset Management with a New Generation of Investment Research Information

ASSET4 AG

ASSET4 announces strategic relationship with Merrill Lynch

Merrill Lynch

ASSET4 AG

INrate Gets Access to ASSET4’s Worldwide Research Information

Advantage based on permanent access to published corporate data

Unique rating method: Various level of analyses lead to transparency and to added value

INrate AG

ASSET4 AG

ASSET4 Strengthens Management Team by Hiring Joachim Asbrede as Chief Operating Officer

Bank Sarasin to license ASSET4 data

ASSET4 Enters into a Strategic Relationship with Goldman Sachs

About ASSET4

ASSET4 Expands Its Universe to 500 Companies

ASSET4 Announces UBS As Client and Strategic Design Partner

Background Information

ASSET4 Enters into a Strategic Relationship
with Goldman Sachs