HSBC Invests ?4m in Big Issue Invest Social Enterprise Fund
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Big Issue Invest has edged closer to its £10m target for its Social Enterprise Investment Fund, with HSBC Bank investing £4m, bringing the total committed capital to £8m.
Big Issue Invest (BII) is now seeking to raise a further £2m to complete its £10m target by the March 2012. The Social Enterprise Investment fund aims to provide creatively structured, medium-term growth capital to social enterprises that have the potential to have a significant social impact, and provide a financial return target in excess of 5 per cent to investors.
The total committed capital into the fund has now reached £8m and comprises initial investments from Deutsche Bank, The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts, the Ulster Community Investment Trust and Eric Lonergan, fund manager at M&G Investments.
To date, the Fund has invested £1.1m in four social enterprises and has approved a further three investments worth £1.4m.
The Fund is a close-ended limited partnership with Big Issue Social Investments Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of BII. CCLA is the FSA approved fund manager.
Richard Cole, global head of principal investments and private equity at HSBC, said: “We believe that the Social Enterprise Investment Fund is an exciting and well executed initiative which will have an extremely positive impact on a number of UK-based social enterprise businesses.
“There is an important role for banks to play within this area which encompasses their own corporate sustainability agendas. As part of our own agenda HSBC is delighted to be part of this initiative as an investor and whilst a pilot initiative for us we hope that this could be the start of a number of investments HSBC makes in this area.”
Big Issue Invest has a long-term vision to become a social merchant bank providing a full range of finance for the social enterprise sector.
