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• The vehicle will invest in short- and medium-term debt from companies in sub-Saharan Africa and emerging countries
• Santa Comba (GSI shareholder group) and MAPFRE are making the initial capital contribution and MAPFRE AM will act as investment advisor
MAPFRE AM, the manager of the insurance group, and Global Social Impact Investments SGIIC (GSI) are joining forces to provide financing to companies with high social impact on both frontier and emerging markets. They will do so through an open private debt fund, called the Global Social Impact Fund (GSIF), which will initially focus on consolidated business models in sub-Saharan Africa and will potentially expand to Latin America. The vehicle, which aims to reach 50 million euros as a first goal, will be managed by GSI and has Santa Comba and MAPFRE as its main investors. MAPFRE AM will take on the role of investment advisor.
This new proposal within the social sphere reinforces the commitment of both firms with regard to impact investment. In this sense, GSI evaluates the theories of change of the companies invested in, and measures the improvement of the quality of life of people and communities, as well as the impact on the ecosystem, trying to look beyond merely quantitative data. To this end, this fund, which has an annual profitability target of between 5 and 8 percent and with annual liquidity from 2024, will focus on three main sectors: agriculture, energy and financial inclusion. More specifically, most of the investment will take place directly in short-term loans and debt structures, although a margin of up to 25 percent of capital is left for investment through funds.
MAPFRE goes one step further in its commitment to socially responsible investment. Having fully covered the ESG spectrum (environmental, social and good governance) with its three funds, MAPFRE Good Governance, MAPFRE Capital Responsable and MAPFRE Inclusión Responsable, the MAPFRE Compromiso Sanitario was recently launched, in order to finance the Community of Madrid in the fight against COVID-19.
'We are very excited about this project and we couldn't have wished for a better partner for this.' We believe that impact investment has a long way to go and, after the pandemic, socially responsible investment is going to emerge stronger, particularly investment made with social criteria,' says José Luis Jiménez, Chief Investment Officer at MAPFRE.
Global Social Impact, a pioneer in impact investment in Spain, has a management team with more than 20 years of experience in investments and in the design, measurement and management of their social impact. Using its experience, it has developed its own measurement system aligned with the most established international standards, such as the SDG, IRIS+ and IMP indicators. Its Advisory Committee includes well-known personalities, including Professor Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who also makes his local teams available to GSIF in the countries receiving investment.
'Few Spanish companies have incorporated social awareness from the outset but MAPFRE is one of them. Ignacio Larramendi himself said that the company is not only obliged to efficiently provide its own service, but is subject to institutional obligations resulting from its influence on social life and its contribution to the national heritage.
GSI is grateful to be part of this project and to contribute our knowledge in order to expand and deepen our impact among vulnerable groups, who just need to be given an opportunity,' says María Ángeles León, founder and Chair of GSI.
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Mapfre SA published this content on 02 July 2020 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 08 July 2020 12:17:12 UTC
