Hedge fund legend targets the wealthy with sustainable investment boutique
City veterans Stanley Fink and Rufus Warner have joined forces to launch an independent boutique focused on sustainable investments, marking the latest move to take advantage of plunging markets.
Earth Capital Partners, which boasts Fink as chairman and Warner as chief executive, is seeking regulatory approval and is set to launch funds early next year.
It is aiming to raise assets under management of $5bn (€4bn) within the next five years. Fink was deputy chairman of Man Group, the largest listed hedge fund in the world, until he stepped down in May this year after 21 years at the company.
He said the company will invest in projects, companies and financial instruments that "address sustainable development challenges, such as climate change, water scarcity and energy security.”
Warner, who was chief executive at London-based Close Investments until July, said: "There is a massive opportunity now for investors to make substantial returns from real assets. It is a lovely time to be setting up a new business as all assets have fallen sharply in price."
Earth Capital will establish investment operations in infrastructure, agriculture and forestry, venture capital in low impact technologies, and carbon dioxide trading and energy arbitrage. It will use a proprietary system to evaluate all of its investments according to environment, social and governance issues, according to a presentation by Warner yesterday.
Its first products will be more traditional funds, though it could expand into co-investing with clients, or offering segregated funds for specific investors, he said.
The company is backed by Sangeeta Shah, a consultant to the Cabinet Office and former president of the Chartered Institute of Journalists; Steve Hyde, an IT entrepreneur; and Fink himself, according to Warner. Ownership is divided amongst the three backers and the firm's staff.
The firm has also recruited several senior employees, including chief operating officer Neil Brown, who was global head of risk at Credit Suisse Asset Management, and James Stacey, former head of sustainable business at Standard Chartered, who is head of sustainable development at Earth Capital.
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