UBS Investment Bank Expands Alternative Research Through Strategic Alliance with Trucost

UBS Investment Bank announced today that its Alternative Research business has entered into a strategic alliance with Trucost Plc., an environmental research organization providing data and analysis on the carbon impacts of companies. Trucost helps investors, companies and governments understand how environmental issues will affect companies’ business activities.

UBS Alternative Research’s arrangement with Trucost will include joint marketing through collaboration with our leading SRI research team, as well as investor calls, conferences and roadshows. In addition, UBS will facilitate access to Trucost’s products and services, which includes analyses of company emissions, natural resource usage, and other environmental impacts based on a proprietary external cost methodology.

"The demand for socially responsible and environmentally conscious research has risen sharply,” said Mark Steinert, Global Head of Equities Research at UBS. "Our alliance with Trucost enhances our ability to provide our clients with highly relevant and differentiated perspectives that will support both their investment goals as well as their philosophies.”

Simon Thomas, Chief Executive of Trucost said, "Trucost was established in 2000 to help investors, companies and government to understand how companies’ environmental impacts could affect their financial performance. With the world’s largest and most comprehensive database of corporate environmental impacts covering the world’s major indices, Trucost looks forward to working with UBS to help its clients understand and reduce their investment exposure to the financial risk of climate change regulation.”

"More and more investors understand that environmental impacts have a cost, and that cost affects business performance,” added Julie Hudson, Global Head of Socially Responsible Investing and Sustainability Equity Research. "Trucost’s research offerings address an immediate need in the marketplace, and we are very pleased to offer our clients this access.”

Nick Agarwal, Head of UBS Alternative Research further added, "This relationship demonstrates UBS’s continued efforts to build UBS Alternative Research and provide clients with greater access to nontraditional content and tools that can enhance their overall investment processes.”

Since 2008, UBS Alternative Research has formed strategic alliances with four other firms including Integrity Research, Governance Metrics International, America’s Research Group and Noble.

UBS has more Institutional Investor ranked analysts than any other firm and is a leading provider of research on companies, industry sectors, geographical markets and macroeconomic trends. UBS Research covers more than 3,300 companies globally, representing 85% of the world’s market capitalization.

About UBS

Headquartered in Zurich and Basel, Switzerland, UBS is one of the world's leading financial firms. It serves a discerning, international client base with its wealth management, investment banking and asset management businesses. In Switzerland, UBS is the market leader in retail and commercial banking.

UBS is present in all major financial centers worldwide. It has offices in over 50 countries, with about 38% of its employees working in the Americas, 34% in Switzerland, 15% in the rest of Europe and 13% in Asia Pacific. UBS employs more than 75,000 people around the world. Its shares are listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE).

About Trucost

Trucost is a global environmental data provider which has been helping investors and companies understand the environmental impacts of business activities since 2000. Trucost provides data and analysis on company emissions and natural resource use in financial as well as quantity terms to help identify how environmental issues could affect companies’ future earnings.

Trucost maintains data on the environmental impacts and disclosures of over 4,500 companies from the world’s major indices. Institutional investors and fund managers use this information to assess the carbon or environmental footprints of their funds, identify differences in performance, address environmental risks and create investments strategies with lower carbon or environmental impacts.

For more information, visit www.trucost.com.