29 July 2019

Fund manager Schroders buys impact investing firm Blue Orchard [Financial Times]

Schroders has become the first large European fund group to place a sizeable bet on the “impact investing” market after buying a majority stake in BlueOrchard Finance in a deal valuing the specialist boutique at more than £100m... BlueOrchad has $ 3.5 bn assets under management and is based in Zurich. 

Which metrics and method to measure success? [Private Equity News] 

PE firms involved in impact investing are looking at options for measurement and metrics. In the moment it seems that there are a variety of approaches used, showing that the industry still hasn’t established universal metrics in its effort to find comparable measurement methods which in turn can leave new investors confused. 

Pacific Live Insurance explains why they no longer supported Swell [Bloomberg] 

“Although we believe in the value of sustainable impact investing, the Swell model is not a long-term fit for our core business strategy,” Pacific Life said in a statement. The insurer owned 100% of Swell and will control its remaining assets, including its technology, after it shuts down. Client accounts will be closed and the assets returned, with management fees waived for August. 

Swell may also just have been too early. Millennials and Gen-Xers are expected to inherit $30trillion of wealth in a massive generational transfer over the next 30 years. Swell’s collapse makes clear that just hasn’t started yet.

$15m Impact Bond to improve lifes of small and marginal farmers in India [The Hindu] 

Mumbai-based wealth advisory firm Waterfield Advisors will soon launch a $15-million Development Impact Bond (DIB) for the farm sector. This is the first DIB raised with domestic funds from ultra high networth individuals (UHNI) and family foundations. The initiative is to transform the livelihood of 6,500 small and marginal households, which, in turn, will help in creating ‘lakhpatis’ in Jharkhand, Gujarat and Odisha.