The coming years could see the African continent emerge as an increasingly important energy provider. With the construction of solar energy plants in the Sahara Desert, the continent could theoretically be able to cover a large proportion of the world's energy requirements, using only a fraction of the total surface area of the desert.
Yesterday saw the end of the first stage of the Volvo Ocean Race, which took the teams from Alicante to Cape Town, along the full length of the African continent. The coming years could see this continent emerge as an increasingly important energy provider. This is not so much due to its resources of oil and gas, but of a source of energy to be found in Africa in unlimited quantities: the sun. Every year, the sun's rays beat more than a billion terawatt hours onto the earth-enough to cover most of the whole world's energy requirements. This means that solar energy arguably has the greatest potential of all renewable energy sources. By building solar energy plants in the Sahara Desert, the continent could theoretically be able to cover a large proportion of the world energy requirements, using only a fraction of the total surface area of the desert. This is why Ad Schellen, fund manager of the Delta Lloyd L Water & Climate Fund (ISIN LU0269461587), is investing in companies like Germany's Solar Millennium AG, which is involved in implementing a power plant project in Africa.
"Solar Millennium AG manufactures solar-thermal power plants, covering all major areas of activity involved in this kind of construction project. In other words, the company is involved in project development and funding and the construction of the power plant. In addition to this, it holds stakes in the power stations and provides the necessary technology. Due to this broad portfolio, the company is in an excellent position to contribute to all phases of the development of solar-thermic power plants, thereby generating profit," Ad Schellen says.
"Solar Millennium has made a huge contribution to the development of the world-wide market for solar-thermal power stations. In Spain, it enabled the construction of Europe's first solar parabolic trough power plant and is also involved in the first solar-thermal power stations in Egypt and China. With its innovative solutions and products, Solar Millennium AG is the exact embodiment of what we are looking for our fund: companies which can help address the urgent issues of humanity, such as climate change. This is also a reason why this company has featured in our portfolio since the fund was issued," continues Schellen.
Investors in the Delta Lloyd L Water & Climate share fund, which invests globally and which has been available in Germany since 15 November 2007, can benefit from these sun technologies. The portfolio includes fast-growing companies which develop technologies to combat global water shortages and climate change. The fund focuses on the four elements of water, air, earth and fire, investing in companies whose products or services are linked to any of these four elements. The fund management adjusts the weighting of the four segments when needed and constantly reviews the composition of the portfolio on the basis of sectoral and individual value analyses.
The manager of the fund, Ad Schellen, has more than 20 years' experience in selecting companies whose technologies or services contribute to solving the problems of water and climate. He leads a four-strong team, supporting him in selecting titles for thematic share investments. Delta Lloyd Asset Management's share team comprises 25 people in total. Ad Schellen's investment strategy for the Delta Lloyd L Water & Climate Fund is geared towards targeting the absolute highest possible yield over the long term. In selecting stocks, he does not track a benchmark index, but remains flexible in the choice of his investments, thereby keeping the correlation to the total market low. Fund manager Ad Schellen and his team select 25 to 50 titles, both according to individual criteria (bottom-up) and on the basis of an assessment of the total markets or individual sectors (top-down). The fund invests internationally, irrespective of the market capitalisation and region of origin of the companies. The portfolio also includes second-tier stock, which often receives less attention from the market and offers very interesting potential yields, from the point of view of the fund manager.
Find out more about
The Volvo Ocean Race: www.volvooceanrace.org/
The Delta Lloyd Water & Climate Fund: www.waterandclimate.de/.
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Further information about:
A&B Financial Dynamics
Jorg Keller
Telephone: 069 92037 130
E-mail: j.keller@abfd.de
Delta Lloyd Deutschland AG
Martina Fassbender
Telephone: 0611 773 25 71
Fax: 0611 773 14 25 71
E-mail: martina.fassbender@deltalloyd.de
Internet: www.deltalloyd.de
About Delta Lloyd Asset Management
Delta Lloyd Asset Management (DLAM) is the asset manager of Delta Lloyd Groep, one of the leading providers of financial services in the Netherlands, active in the fields of insurance, banking and asset management. With assets of 42 billion euro (as at September 2007) under management for internal and external customers, DLAM is the fifth-largest asset manager in the Netherlands. The asset management company administrates investment funds for Delta Lloyd, OHRA and Triodos and also operates as an asset manager for institutional investors.
About Delta Lloyd
Delta Lloyd Deutschland is a 100%-owned subsidiary of the Delta Lloyd Groep, Amsterdam, and therefore part of the British Aviva Group. The company provides a wide range of financial, investment and provident products from a single source, as well as providing expert consultancy on all financial issues. In addition to Delta Lloyd Leben and Hamburger Leben, a pension fund and a consultancy for occupational pension schemes respectively, the Delta Lloyd Group in Germany also comprises its own private banking company, a real estate company and a mortgage broker.