Phenix Capital: Public equity funds at a glance
The report finds that there has been a 153.7% growth rate in the total number of listed equity impact funds since 2017. But over the last five years, the proportion of public equity impact funds compared to all of the other impact asset classes has averaged 9.8%.
Public equity impact funds have raised €170 billion in assets under management, across five main themes, with €238 million, the median amount raised per fund. There are 126 public equity impact managers, an 8.6% growth in the number of managers with offerings in this impact asset class.
There are 175 listed equity funds with a global focus, which is an increase of 17.5% since 2023, which make up 64% of the total public equity impact fund universe. The remainder has 30% dedicated to developed markets, and only 6% to the emerging markets.
The breakdown of the top five SDGs is exactly the same as the 2023 report with nearly 50% of the funds selecting SDG7: Affordable & Clean Energy as their core theme.
This year, SDG3: Good Health & Wellbeing and SDG9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure have tied for second place with 118 funds each picking the respective themes.
Both SDG:7 and SDG13: Climate Action saw an almost 20% rise in the number of funds compared to 2023, picking these themes.
Next to the insights and analytics provided by Phenix Capital's Impact Fund Database, the report also features an interview with Andrew Behar, CEO of As You Sow, a non-profit shareholder advocacy group. Andrew discusses how shareholders can be empowered to create lasting change both environmentally and socially by aligning investments with values through shareholder advocacy, coalition building, and innovative legal strategies.
'We publish six to 10 score cards every year. Every quarter we update the Racial Justice Scorecard and the Workplace Equity Scorecard, and in June the 2024 Plastic Promises Scorecard came out. Once the scorecard has been published, we sit down with the companies that are laggards and show them that their competitors are outperforming financially because they are addressing these issues.'