At the Impact Investing Institute, we believe that a place-based impact investing approach creates opportunities for institutional investors to make market-rate, risk-adjusted financial returns while simultaneously delivering a positive social and environmental impact locally.
Now, the exceptional performance of Clwyd Pension Fund’s local and impact investments has demonstrated this belief in practice, achieving a rate of return over three times higher than the Fund average and clearly highlighting the opportunities, and benefits, of adopting a place-based approach.
According to the Fund’s March 2022 quarterly monitoring report, it’s total assets and total private market assets performed at 13.3% and 26.4% respectively; the sub-category of local/impact investments yielded a significantly stronger return of 40.3%. Alongside local/ impact investments, private market assets included property, private equity and infrastructure investments, none of which performed as strongly.
Clwyd Pension Fund are a trailblazer in the place-based impact investing space. In “Scaling up institutional investment for place-based impact”, published by the Institute along with partners The Good Economy and Pensions for Purpose, the Fund was identified as 1 of 6 Local Government Pension Funds (LGPSs) that make impact investments with ‘place intentionality’, mobilising private capital to invest in specific places.
As of March 2022, Clwyd Pension Fund has £2.4bn in assets under management, 4% of which is allocated to local and impact investments. The Fund’s intention to invest with a place-based impact approach is reflected in its Investment Strategy Statement, which states that the Fund will “look for investment opportunities across all sectors that offer potential for catalysing economic growth, particularly in deprived areas.”
We are excited for more LGPSs and other institutional investors to embrace the opportunities that place-based impact investment can offer, and we look forward to working with them to drive transformational local growth.
To learn more about place-based impact investing, visit our Place Programme webpage.