St. James’s Place renames £13bn global equity fund to reflect lower carbon footprint

St. James’s Place has announced a set of changes to its £13bn SJP Global Equity fund, including a new name and investment adviser.

SJP is updating the fund’s sustainability disclosure to provide further transparency on how the fund maintains a lower carbon footprint than its benchmark, the MSCI ACWI.

As part of this, the fund will be renamed to the SJP Global Lower Carbon Equity Unit Trust.

Additionally, Acadian Asset Management will take over as the new investment adviser. Under the new team, the strategy will be actively managed, using a systematic and quantitative approach, aiming to achieve capital growth over five years or more.  

Kelly Young, chief executive officer at Acadian, said: “We’re proud to partner with SJP in supporting their investment objectives with our disciplined, systematic approach.”

Justin Onuekwusi, chief investment officer at St. James’s Place, added: “By moving to an active, systematic investment approach and enhancing sustainability disclosures, we are strengthening the fund’s ability to capture global equity opportunities while maintaining a clear focus on lower carbon intensity.”

In 2025, the SJP Global Equity fund delivered a 16.9% total return for investors in the IA Unclassified sector, outperforming the MSCI ACWI, which rose 13.9%, according to FE fundinfo data.

This story was written by our sister-title, Portfolio Adviser