Greensphere Capital considers going public

Sustainability investor hopes to raise several million on London’s Stock Exchange

Greensphere Capital said it is considering a listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE).

The investor hopes to raise between $300 million and $500 million (£227 million and £379 million) through an Initial Public Offering (IPO) of Greensphere Capital PLC, which will enable it to invest more in sustainable energy and infrastructure assets.

It said joining the LSE will enable it to provide wider access “to an asset class that has traditionally been dominated by private funds.”

Greensphere plans to put funds into public and private sustainable infrastructure projects and (as yet unspecified) companies engaged in water, waste, renewable energy, energy transmission & distribution, sustainable agriculture, and resource & energy efficiency.

By “unifying” its investments in this way, Divya Seshamani, managing partner at Greensphere, said the company “aims to demonstrate how finance can play a transformational role in tackling some of the greatest risks facing our generation” – namely resource scarcity, commodity and fuel input volatility, and climate stress.

The move will provide “positive environmental impact, job creation and community engagement”, not just economic profit, she said.

Seshamani claimed it will “revolutionise” the private equity and thematic investment fund models “by delivering returns to investors with zero net costs”.

With regulatory pressure mounting for investment managers to reform their fee structures, the company also said it would boost total returns in the process, by mutualising all fee income it generates and returning it to investors.

The goal is to provide shareholders with long-term capital appreciation “and a predictable and attractive yield from these investments through regular capital distributions.”

The new investments will primarily focus on North America, Scandinavia and Western Europe.