London-based investment firm M&G has committed £200 million ($244 million) into two impact investment strategies of the Swiss investor responsAbility Investments.
The investment strategies aim to tackle food challenges in Asia and Latin America, per a company statement on Friday. The deal follows M&G’s complete acquisition of the Zürich-headquartered impact asset manager earlier in May this year.
The two investment strategies in Asia and Latin America are designed to improve the production and accessibility of healthy food globally and strengthen the agricultural value chain, according to the statement, citing that the demand for products will have to double in the next 30 years to meet consumption patterns and diet changes.
M&G’s commitment to the two strategies is on behalf of the £133 billion Prudential With-Profits Fund, which is fully invested in by the UK multi-asset fund PruFund.
M&G is a global savings and investments business, managing money for around 5 million retail customers and more than 800 institutional clients across 28 markets. The company has approximately $425 billion of assets under management.
responsAbility Investments is an impact asset manager specialising in private market investments across three themes — financial inclusion, climate finance and sustainable food. It manages $3.6 billion in assets across 280 portfolio companies in 75 countries.
The two strategies “aim to generate above benchmark financial returns alongside creating tangible impact,” said Rochus Mommartz, CEO of responsAbility, in the statement.
Earlier this month, Indian fintech lender Aye Finance raised $10 million in the form of external commercial borrowings (ECBs) from responsAbility. In November, Vietnamese solar power developer CME Solar Investments (CMES) bagged $12 million in debt financing from responsAbility.
The company has also backed Indonesian P2P lender Investree.