Actis adopts inaugural IFC market standard for impact investing
Actis, a leading growth markets investor, has become a founding signatory to the IFC’s Operating Principles for Impact Management (‘the Principles’), an inaugural international market standard for impact investing. Underpinned by five stages – strategy, origination and structuring, portfolio management, exit, and independent verification – the Principles establish a robust impact management system, enabling investors to generate positive impact for society alongside financial returns. Signatories will have to annually disclose how they implement the Principles across their portfolios. The Principles will bring greater transparency, credibility, and discipline by providing a clear common market standard to a growing investment opportunity. According to the IFC, investor appetite for impact investments is worth an estimated $26 trillion.
Torbjorn Caesar, Senior Partner at Actis, commented: “We strongly believe that investing responsibly creates businesses that are more resilient, more innovative and better able to deliver societal benefits – and are, ultimately, more valuable. We see no contradiction between investing responsibly and delivering competitive returns. Impact investing is becoming more popular so it’s important to build understanding and consensus around measurement. We are proud to be a founding signatory of the Operating Principles for Impact Management and to play a leading role in developing the market standards.”
“This is history in the making,” said IFC CEO Philippe Le Houérou. “We believe there is now potential to bring impact investing into mainstream. Our ambitions are very high – we want much more money managed for impact because there’s no time to lose to protect our planet and communities around the world.”