Nuveen announces final closing of inaugural Global Private Equity Impact Fund
Rekha Unnithan
Nuveen, a leading global investment manager with over US$1.2 trillion of assets under management, has announced the final close of the Nuveen Global Impact Fund, LP and affiliated entities (the “Fund”).
The Fund, which is the first private equity impact fund raised by Nuveen, has secured a total of US$218M from a diverse mix of global investors, with the aim of generating strong financial returns and addressing two of the greatest sustainable development challenges: climate change and inequality.
“Nuveen has been at the forefront of impact investing for decades, and there is an immediate opportunity to drive positive influence on some of world’s most pressing problems relating to climate change and inequality,” said Rekha Unnithan, CFA, co-head of private markets impact investing at Nuveen. “We are proud to build on our momentum from our initial fund closing in 2020 and look forward to engaging with more companies that meet our investors’ values and market views.”
The Fund will target investments that enable disruptive businesses to reduce waste and use resources in a circular manner, improving energy efficiency and reducing emissions. In addition, the Fund will target investments that expand access to and reduce the cost of basic products and services for underserved consumers. Nuveen takes an active approach to impact management, working with portfolio companies to both better understand the social and environmental outcomes of their companies’ products, services, and operations; and actively working with them to improve those outcomes.
Nuveen has also confirmed that leading Australian financial services group Perpetual has made a meaningful investment into the Fund.
“We are delighted with Perpetual’s meaningful investment to the Fund and appreciate the ongoing partnership between our firms,” said Andrew Kleinig, Managing Director, Head of Australia at Nuveen. “We are committed to further strengthening our impact investing capabilities and commitments globally and we look forward to assisting other Australian institutions with their impact investing objectives in the future.”
Nuveen is a pioneer in impact investing, with a strong track-record of driving strong financial results and an overall, positive influence for society’s most pressing problems. The firm made its first impact investment in the 1980s and has since invested over US$500 million in direct and indirect private equity capital across over 200 portfolio companies in alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Today, Nuveen manages over US$5.8 billion across all of its public and private markets impact investing strategies.
