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Impact investing in Latin America and Asia targeting global food challenges
M&G plc, the international savings and investments business, today announces a £200 million commitment into two impact investment strategies to be launched by responsAbility. M&G acquired responsAbility earlier this year, a Swiss-based leader in impact investing across emerging markets.
The demand for healthy and sustainable food is set to only increase as the global population grows and consumers change their diets and consumption patterns. For example, it is expected that the consumption of fruits and vegetables will have to double in the next 30 years. The two investment strategies in Asia and Latin America are designed to improve the production and availability of healthy food worldwide, as well as rural livelihoods, while strengthening the agricultural value chain by building resilience to climate change.
M&G’s £200 million investment into the strategies is on behalf of the £133 billion Prudential With Profits Fund, which is fully invested in by the UK market-leading PruFund. The hugely diverse strategy seeks to partner with specialist investment teams who have the potential to provide excellent investment returns alongside diversification by both investment type and region.
Jack Daniels, Chief Investment Officer, M&G plc, says: “It’s essential that investors play a role in solving the biggest challenges we face. In this instance, investing in strategies that address feeding a growing population in a sustainable way, in economies where the tangible impact will be greater. This commitment demonstrates how we can use our investment firepower as an asset owner to provide scale to responsAbility’s specialist capabilities and their expertise to deliver financial returns while having a positive impact.”
Rochus Mommartz, Chief Executive Officer of responsAbility, says: “M&G’s investment is accelerating our growth by attracting more institutional investors to our pioneering range of strategies. Through these two strategies, which aim to generate above benchmark financial returns alongside creating tangible impact, we will utilise our 20 years of experience to positively contribute to the transformation of global agriculture and food value chains.”