Sustainability investor Greensphere Capital weighs up $500m IPO on London’s main market
Sustainability investor Greensphere, which aims to deliver profit for investors as well as environmental impact and jobs and community engagement, is considering listing on the London Stock Exchange.
The firm hopes to raise between $300m and $500m (£227m and £379m) through the initial public offering (IPO), to make further investments in sustainable energy and infrastructure assets.
Greensphere is headed by Divya Seshamani, a former partner at US private equity giant TPG Capital, and has managed a fund on behalf of the UK Green Invesment Bank for the past five years.
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“Greensphere Capital aims to demonstrate how finance can play a transformational role in tackling some of the greatest risks facing our generation – resource scarcity, commodity and fuel input volatility, and climate stress,” said Seshamani.
The firm will invest in both public and private projects and companies in sectors including waste, renewable energy, energy transmission and distribution, sustainable agriculture, and resource and energy efficiency.
By listing, Seshamani hopes to crack open sustainability investment – which she believes has previously been dominated by specialist private funds – to a wider range of investors.
She will be supported by an all-star investment committee including Better Capital founder Jon Moulton, Forterra chairman Paul Lester, the UK Green Investment Bank’s founding chief executive Ian Nolan and Teh Kok Peng, the ex-president of Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC.
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With regulatory pressure mounting for investment managers to reform their fee structures, Greensphere is also planning to deliver returns to investors with zero net costs.
Numis Securities will advise Greensphere on the potential listing, which it expects to have further news on by the end of November.
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