M&G : announces Rob Marshall to lead new Stewardship and Sustainability t

26 November 2020

M&G announces Rob Marshall to lead new Stewardship and

Sustainability team

M&G plc is bringing ESG to the heart of how it invests and manages assets for our customers with the creation of a new Stewardship and Sustainability Team, led by Rob Marshall. This will help meet increased client demand for ESG-integrated, sustainable and impact products and develop the roadmap to meet M&G's commitment to achieve net zero carbon emissions across its investment portfolios by 2050.

The new Stewardship and Sustainability team of 13 professionals will further build M&G's capability in research, policy, evaluation, integration and reporting of environmental, social and governance risks and opportunities across its investment engine in all asset classes.

It will also leverage M&G's scale and influence as a global asset manager and asset owner to engage with investee companies to encourage transition to sustainable business models, including a new Climate Engagement Programme focused on companies with high carbon exposure.

The team will also be the centre of excellence for our growing range of innovative impact solutions for customers who want to make a tangible difference to the environment and society with their investments, such as the new M&G Climate Solutions Fund, which aims to invest in companies addressing the climate emergency while also delivering attractive investment returns.

Rob Marshall, head of the new team, has led M&G's highly regarded Credit Research team and more recently the Global Research equity and credit team since 2017.

He will be supported by:

• Rupert Krefting, Head of Corporate Finance and Stewardship
• Annabel Nelson, Head of ESG Policy and Disclosure
• Michael Posnansky, Head of ESG Research and Integration
• Ben Constable-Maxwell, Head of Impact.

Earlier this year M&G plc announced a further commitment to reduce our own operational carbon emissions to net zero by 2030, and a series of commitments to improve diversity and inclusion within the business, including improving diversity of gender and ethnicity/nationality in our senior leadership with the goal of achieving 40% and 20% representation, respectively, by 2025.

Jack Daniels, Chief Investment Officer of M&G plc said: "Our customers want to know that we're

investing in the right way: supporting their financial goals by considering how their investments affect - and are affected by - what's happening in our society and environment. For us, the long term sustainability of our business, our environment and our communities depends on us embedding ESG into everything we do. Our new Stewardship and Sustainability team will play a central role in ensuring ESG is at the heart of how we invest as a leading global asset manager and asset owner."

Rob Marshall, head of the M&G Stewardship and Sustainability team, said: "M&G has a long history of investing with care and integrity on behalf of our customers and standing up for their interests. We are rising to the unprecedented environmentaland societal challenges the world faces by further building our capabilities to invest sustainably and responsibly while continuing to deliver the long term performance customers want; stepping up our active engagement with investee companies to ensure the right changes are being made, particularly on climate change risks; and continuing to innovate for our customers in the products and reporting we provide. "

-ENDS-

Media enquiries:

Irene Chambers

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020 8162 3284

About M&G plc

M&G plc is an international savings and investments business, managing money for both individual savers and institutional investors in 28 markets. As at 30 June 2020, we had £339 billion of assets under management and administration, around 5 million retail customers and more than 800 institutional clients.

With a heritage dating back more than 170 years, M&G plc has a long history of innovation in savings and investments, combining asset management and insurance expertise to offer a wide range of solutions. We serve our savings and insurance customers under the Prudential brand in the UK and Europe and for asset management in South Africa, and under the M&G Investments brand for asset management clients globally.

About Rob Marshall, Head of Stewardship & Sustainability

In addition to assuming his new role leading M&G's Stewardship & Sustainability team, Rob Marshall leads M&G's highly regarded global credit and equity research team. Rob previously served as Head of Credit Research, leading our three groups of industry and asset class specialists in Financials, Corporates, and Asset-Backed Securities ('ABS'), and as an analyst, Rob covered the ABS and Real Estate sectors for many years. Prior to joining M&G in 2000 Rob was a senior analyst in

European structured finance for the credit rating agency DCR, and later for Fitch Ratings. Rob holds a degree in Classics from Christ's College, Cambridge.