BlackRock has launched the BlackRock Impact Bond Fund (‘the Fund’), a mutual fund that aims to generate competitive financial returns while investing in measurable social and environmental outcomes. The Fund will trade under the ticker BIIIX.

The Fund will be the first broadly available U.S. fixed income fund launched by BlackRock since the formation of BlackRock Impact, the firm’s $200 billion sustainable investing platform.

“Impact investing seeks to enable investors to achieve competitive returns while targeting transparent, measurable social and environmental goals,” said Deborah Winshel, Managing Director and Global Head of Impact Investing at BlackRock. “BlackRock continues to leverage the breadth of its investing and risk management skill to create innovative portfolios that seek to combine social purpose and investment performance.”

The Fund

The Fund seeks to provide income and capital growth by investing in a portfolio of fixed income including corporate bonds of companies with positive aggregate societal impact outcomes such as corporate citizenship, high impact disease research, greenhouse gas emissions, ethics controversies, and litigation, as determined by BlackRock, compared to the Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index (the “Benchmark”). The Fund is run by BlackRock’s Model Based Fixed Income team, who seeks to employ a unique research and investment approach and aims for compelling absolute and risk-adjusted performance with low correlation to the broader fixed income market. Financial results are driven by a combination of asset allocation and security selection strategies in which aggregate positive societal outcomes of the security selection process are incorporated using the BlackRock Scientific Active Equity (“SAE”) Impact Methodology. The portfolio focuses on measurable impact and consistent alpha.

“We believe this new investment strategy will address a growing demand for fixed income impact solutions in the public markets,” said Scott Radell, Managing Director and portfolio manager of the Fund. “The BlackRock Impact Bond Fund seeks to leverage the firm’s renowned analytics capabilities and with its deep knowledge of the bond markets to create something truly differentiated for sustainable investors.”