The $1.2 trillion investment manager and subsidiary of insurance giant TIAA has launched a global impact credit fund that raised €157 million ($170 million) through a co-investment by parent TIAA and from Norwegian life insurer Gjensidige Pensjonsforsikring, or GP, among others. The launch comes after Nuveen secured C$200 million ($147 million) in a first close for its second impact-focused private equity fund in July.
The credit fund will invest in investment-grade bonds and other credit instruments. Portfolio investments will include ones that exclusively use their proceeds to improve environmental or social outcomes, particularly around affordable housing, community development, climate change and natural resource regeneration.
Impact strategy
The fund targets issuers “with the commitment and an ability” to deliver transparent impact reporting. It’s part of Nuveen’s $413 billion fixed income strategy, which has already backed the World Bank’s Rhino Bond, the Seychelles Blue Bond, the Barbados Blue Bond and the Amazon Reforestation Bond. Those issuances support, respectively, wildlife conservation, sustainable marine projects, sustainable ocean management projects and reforestation efforts.
Chicago-based Nuveen’s proprietary impact investing framework identifies impact investments across global fixed income markets based on a range of direct and measurable criteria.
