The February 2022 unprovoked Russian assault on and invasion of Ukraine has become a topic of growing international concern and collective action. The invasion is prompting moral, humanitarian, business, and political outrage and increasing isolation for Russian leaders, oligarchs, and the country as a whole.
Given this troubling and fluid situation, Praxis has moved to restrict all Russian-domiciled companies from its investment universe and remove any existing companies from its funds. Most Russian companies already had been excluded from Praxis funds based on a range of environmental, social, governance, and weapons-related restrictions. This policy will ensure Praxis is additionally protected from conflict-driven risk at the country level. Praxis staff will regularly review this restriction.
Praxis also recently expanded its governance screen. Praxis formerly used MSCI’s Corruption and Instability key issue for its primary governance screening metric. After researching ways to incorporate additional metrics to create a broader base of governance criteria, Praxis is now using MSCI’s governance pillar score for its screen. This aggregates several key issues, including ownership and control, board, pay, accounting, business ethics, and tax transparency into a combined analysis.
Praxis continuously evaluates its screening guidelines, integrating new understanding of issues and responding to outside developments to ensure alignment with its core values while maintaining a functional investment universe.