We invest in the growth of attractive social enterprises with a proven business model, high development potential and a measurable and scalable social or environmental impact. We are flexible in terms of investment size and invest through equity and debt structures. Value and impact creation is our priority and we work closely with management teams and corporate partners throughout the life of our investments to achieve this.

We invest globally with a strong focus on emerging markets as our goal is to create impact where the need for it is highest.

We invest across all impact sectors following a global, relative value approach. For each sector, we define investment themes and strategies based on the long-term viability and growth potential of business models, value-creation opportunities as well as scale and depth of impact.

We complement our direct investments with commitments to select impact investment managers. Through a flexible combination of these investment strategies, we can benefit from specialist sector and market know-how and build more diversified, global impact investment funds.

The assessment and management of social and environmental impact forms an integral part of the investment management process. During the prospecting, sourcing and screening phases, we select investments that deliver both attractive financial returns and positive social and environmental impact. During the due diligence and investment analysis phases, we assess the scale and depth of the impact generated by the investment. In addition, we identify the environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks and opportunities related to the investment, as well as the value-add opportunities of Partners Group’s global investment platform and network. Together with management, we define and agree on impact targets and measurements, which we closely monitor during the lifecycle of the investment. At exit, we give thorough consideration to how the impact mission can be protected under a new ownership structure.

Our investment decisions are guided by the following criteria:
Financial return: How aligned is the investment with the fund strategy to generate impact while delivering competitive financial returns?
Impact: On what scale and depth does the investment address a societal or environmental challenge? Does the investment benefit an underserved beneficiary group or society at-large?
What systematic/wider impact will occur from the investment?
Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) Factors: What are the ESG risks and how can they be mitigated? Do any ESG  opportunities exist that would also improve business performance?
Additionality: Does the investment lead to outcomes which would not otherwise occur or does it just displace comparable societal benefits? What value can we add to the investment’s development and growth?

We provide capital to address the world’s most pressing challenges with priority sectors being financial inclusion, affordable housing, energy access, food & agriculture, healthcare and education. For each sector, we define investment themes and strategies based on the long-term viability and growth potential of business models, value-creation opportunities, as well as scale and depth of impact. Examples include:

Financial inclusion
Microfinance: support Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) to further penetrate underserved segments and regions

MFI transformation: support transformation of leading MFIs into regulated banks, expanding deposits and SME offerings

Fintech: support new technologies and operating models to expand access, reduce costs, and promote financial resilience

 

Affordable housing
Housing development: develop urban housing for sale to low-and lower-middle income families or for social rental programs

Housing finance: wholesale debt for inclusive finance institutions providing mortgages or housing microfinance

 

 

Energy access
Solar lights: affordable clean lighting solutions with daily financing payments below the displaced cost of kerosene

Solar household systems: affordable clean energy access solutions with low upfront costs and medium-term financing

Mini-grids: decentralized, off-grid, community-level clean energy solutions

Clean cooking: affordable, energy-efficient, clean-burning cook stoves

 

Food & agriculture
Fair trade supply chain & ethical consumer brands: strengthen the value chain from farmer collectives and fair traders to ethical brands, driving demand for sustainable food and securing income for smallholder farmers

Agro-business: investing in agro-business to lower resource-intensiveness, increase yield, support import substitution and promote regional trade

 

Healthcare
Healthcare delivery: companies focusing on affordable care models (e.g., out-patient clinic networks, in-patient hospital networks, specialist networks)

Healthcare micro-insurance: services that complete the affordable healthcare market

 

 

Education
Education systems: primary & secondary schools, distance-learning and vocational training targeted at low and middle-income families

Student financing: enabling deserving low-income students to access academic institutions, leveraging investments made by governments and charities

We apply an integrated measurement framework that caters to the different levels of maturity, resources and impact measurement sophistication of our investees.

During the pre-investment process, we use a number of tools to screen candidates and conduct due diligence, including:
• Mapping out the potential investee’s theory of change to understand how the investment will convert theory into action and to identify causal links
• Leveraging existing studies to test the hypothesis underlying the causal links
• Assessing the effectiveness of the capital invested by analyzing the scale and depth of the impact created and comparing it with other potential investments
• Assessing the additionality of the impact created by the investee and our own value add opportunities

After due diligence, we work with the investee in:
• Developing a scorecard that is aligned with the theory of change and that identifies and tracks the relevant key performance indicators (KPIs) for each investment
• Gathering and analyzing data on the KPIs post investment to monitor the social impact performance of the investee
• Where possible and meaningful, aggregating selected KPIs of the different investments into a sector and/or portfolio view for high-level analysis and reporting

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