M&G gobbles up responsAbility in ethical investment push
British investment giant M&G has taken a majority stake in sustainable investor responsAbility amid a string of recent takeovers.
In a sign that M&G is attempting to appeal to socially conscious investors the firm snapped up the Zurich-based ethical investment company on the same day it announced the takeover of sustainable Housebuilder Greencore in a £500m drive to build green homes.
M&G has agreed to acquire approximately 90 per cent of the issued share capital of responsAbility, and said it expects to acquire the remaining 10 per cent “in due course.” The acquisition could still be called off if M&G does not obtain regulatory approval.
“This acquisition strengthens M&G’s position in the rapidly growing market for sustainable investments, especially in the exciting area of emerging markets. It also accelerates the growth of our private assets franchise and augments our European institutional distribution,” said John Foley, chief executive of M&G.
Founded in 2003, responsAbility has $3.7bn of assets under management and has invested more than $11bn in private assets across emerging markets, its recent focus has been companies with business models tied to UN Sustainable Development Goals.
responsAbility’s 200 employees will join M&G on completion of the deal and the business will remain headquartered in Zurich.
Jack Daniels, chief investment officer of M&G, said: “There is strong and growing demand for impact and sustainable investment products from our clients. The combination of responsAbility’s specialist capabilities in this area and our scale, investment breadth and global distribution reach represents a very powerful proposition.”
In a bid to expand its offering to clients M&G yesterday announced it had taken a minority stake in Moneyfarm, an investment platform which builds digital tools and services for customers. The investment giant also snapped up Sandringham Partners, a financial advisory firm, earlier this month.