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Federated Hermes completes major expansion of its global stewardship business

Press
3 November 2021

Federated Hermes has completed a significant expansion of its stewardship team, EOS, with 13 new hires this year – 10 in the US and three in the UK. It has also added a further two specialists in responsible property investment and three people to its Responsibility Office in the last eight months. This expansion is part of a substantial investment and enlargement of its capabilities to advance its leadership in active stewardship, ESG integration, impact and advocacy across the globe.

Federated Hermes now has over 60 professionals working across its stewardship and responsibility teams, making it one of the largest resources of its kind in the world. The firm is placing particular emphasis on the US, the largest investment market in the world, where the demand for ESG integration and stewardship is increasing.

Since July 2018, EOS has added over USD 500bn of assets under advice, passing USD 1 trillion during the first quarter of 2020.

Saker Nusseibeh, CBE, CEO, International at Federated Hermes said:

“Active stewardship; high active share; and the integration of ESG, alongside traditional performance factors, have long been at the heart of our investment philosophy. We pioneered this approach as it is integral to achieving sustainable wealth creation on behalf of our clients and central to actively stewarding the money our clients and their investors give us. This major investment reflects our conviction that active ownership is vital in serving our clients and their investors.”

The new team members in the US, where EOS actively engages with over 300 companies, will report into Tim Youmans, Engagement Lead for North America and the London additions will report into Dr. Christine Chow, Lead for Asia and Emerging Markets. Their roles will include the execution of the engagement strategy for corporate and public policy and best practice engagement work.

The expansion of the team in North America will support the integration of stewardship and ESG into the firm’s investment teams based in Pittsburgh, following the merger of Federated Investors with London-based Hermes Investment Management in 2018. They became Federated Hermes at the beginning of the year.

Dr Hans-Christoph Hirt, Head of EOS at Federated Hermes commented:

“The expansion of our team is part of our ambitious plans to grow our global business and we are pleased to welcome our new colleagues who bring a wide range of experience and skills to EOS. North America is a particularly important market for our stewardship clients, where we engage with some of the world’s largest companies and expanding our footprint in this region will be a significant boost to our engagement efforts.

“We recently reached the milestone of representing $1 trillion of assets under advice, giving us significant leverage to generate positive change at companies on behalf of our long-term institutional investor clients. Our new appointments will help us meet the expectations and requirements of our clients to engage with their portfolio companies at the highest levels affecting change.”

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