Since the inception of the firm, Ajeej has been focused on delivering attractive absolute returns over the long term. As an active manager, and germane to the long term fundamentally based returns ethos, we have always believed that material corporate governance (the “G” in “ESG”) factors are critical drivers of long-term investment returns from both an opportunity and a risk-mitigation perspective, and have been active in the assessment of these factors since the launch of the Ajeej strategy. Additionally, in recent years, we have made an effort to expand on the “G” to include environmental and social (the “E” and “S” in “ESG”) in order to continue leading by example in best business practices. Notably, as we integrated a full ESG process in to our investment process, it was important to maintain the main engine, and structure our ESG policy and process such that it became complimentary to an existing robust investment process.

Broadly, there are two aims of the ESG process. The first is to create a scoring methodology that runs in parallel and compliments the fundamentally driven investment process, and effectively guides conviction in the underlying values produced by our analysts. The second, is to compliment a central ethos of Ajeej, which is to participate in and positively influence the evolution of the MENA capital markets.