When Dureka Carrasquillo took to the stage at a hedge fund event three years ago, she tipped buying supercar maker Ferrari NV for a bumper profit. The bet proved prescient for the ex-Canada Pension Plan Investment Board manager, but it likely won’t be found in her new fund.
Carrasquillo and her former CPPIB colleague Savironi Chet have joined AllianceBernstein Holding to start a hedge fund called 1.5 Degrees, named after scientists’ warning that the Earth could warm by that much within the next two decades. The long/short equities fund is expected to start trading this quarter, according to an investor document seen by Bloomberg.
A spokesperson for AllianceBernstein, which manages more than $700 billion of assets, declined to comment. Carrasquillo and Chet didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
1.5 Degrees aims to make high single digit returns by focusing on climate change opportunities and companies benefitting or losing out from events such as rising sea levels, shifting consumer preferences and increased greenhouse gas emissions, according to the document, which didn’t mention how much the strategy was seeking to raise.
The fund joins a stampede among managers to integrate sustainability goals in their strategies as demand for such products booms. So-called environmental, social and governance investing has turned into a $35 trillion industry, providing a fertile ground for them to raise assets.
London-based Carrasquillo, who graduated from Harvard University, is a hedge fund industry veteran with about two decades of investing experience. While speaking at the Sohn conference in London in 2018, she predicted a 60% surge in Ferrari shares because the company’s development pipeline had turned more aggressive. One year later, the shares had risen 61%.
In Carrasquillo’s final one-and-a-half years at CPPIB, she worked on launching a new climate change investment strategy, according to the document.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.