ADM Capital finds it pays to be green
ADM CAPITAL’S food-focused Cibus Fund successfully closed at more than $320m. following its designation as the first Guernsey Green Fund.
Subscriptions for the Guernsey fund, launched in 2017, stood at $208m. at the end of September 2018. By the time it closed a month later, after registering as a Guernsey Green Fund in mid-October, it stood at $322m.
The Guernsey Green Fund, the world’s first regulated green investment fund product, was launched earlier this year. It offers a green ‘kitemark’ for Guernsey funds which invest 75% of assets in projects and companies which will have a positive environmental impact on the planet, monitored against internationally-recognised criteria.
‘Clearly there were a number of contributing factors, but I do think an important factor in bringing in those later funds, getting investors who were thinking about it to actually commit, was the Guernsey Green Fund designation,’ said Jeremy Alun-Jones, group chief operating officer at ADM Capital.
The company believed in the Guernsey Green Fund and what it stood for, he added, with the fund mirroring market developments in awareness and popularity of green and sustainable investing.
‘Investors are looking for confidence from verification and authentication, some of these things mean different things to different people, and investment managers do not have enough time to work out for themselves exactly what these things mean to them.
‘What we thought was very appealing in the Guernsey Green Fund initiative was a clear signature of verification, which was why we chose to register, and why we are very proud to be the first Guernsey Green Fund.’
Andy Sloan, chairman of Guernsey Green Finance, said: ‘Our vision is that the confidence in the robustness and legitimacy of the Guernsey Green Fund helps make the sustainable capital raising process that little bit easier.’
Dr Sloan, who is also deputy chief executive, strategy, for promotional agency Guernsey Finance, added: ‘In a way it is our contribution to climate change mitigation. It is therefore exceptionally pleasing to see that this seems to have been the case on the very first time round for ADM Capital.’
