ImpactAlpha, February 18 – PG Impact Investments was launched out of Swiss investment firm Partners Group in 2015 to “institutionalize [its] impact investing practice.” The independent firm has closed fundraising for its inaugural impact fund at €210 million ($237 million). PG Impact and founders and employees of Partners Group committed $65 million to the fund.
PG Impact Investments I was set up to invest in emerging markets businesses aligned to the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals. It makes debt, equity and mezzanine investments in the $4 range to $6 million range, the firm’s spokesperson told ImpactAlpha. Proceeds from the fund are funneled towards the firm’s philanthropic initiatives.
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To date, PG Impact Investments I has made roughly 20 investments, including a recent $5 million loan to Tugende, a motorcycle taxi lease-to-own startup in Kampala, Uganda. PG Impact’s has also invested in solar product manufacturer Greenlight Planet, agriculture company Shared-X, and GoodLife Pharmacy, an East African retail pharmacy network that has previously raised funding from Leapfrog Investments.
Partners Group, meanwhile, is managing its own larger impact investing initiative: a planned $1 billion fund called PG LIFE, catering to mainstream private investors. The initiative is also aligned to the SDGs and “targets a typical private markets return and investments with an enterprise value of $200 million to $2 billion,” the spokesperson said.
