AFRICA – Basel-based Fondation Botnar, a company that is investing in emerging solutions to build a better future for children and young people globally, has entrusted the Swiss firm Obviam with the set-up and management of a US$60 million impact investing portfolio.
Obviam’s objective is to achieve not only a financial return by making sustainable investments in developing and emerging markets, but also a measurable contribution to development.
“We are very pleased that Fondation Botnar has placed its trust in us with this mandate. Thanks to the new fund we have launched in connection with this mandate, we will be able to offer a flexible option for long-term, profitable impact investing to other clients as well. With the current Covid-19 crisis, investment in SMEs in developing and emerging markets are more important than ever,” said Cluaude Barra, Obviam CEO.
With this mandate from Fondation Botnar, Obviam is also launching its new umbrella fund for professional and institutional investors, bringing its assets under management to over US$1 billion for the first time.
Obviam has over 20 years of experience in impact investing. On behalf of Fondation Botnar, it will make equity investment in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and fast-growing local business in developing and emerging markets.
In this activity, Obviam is working closely with trusted local partners to enable long-term, broad based and sustainable growth while mitigating the associated risks.
“After we took a strategic decision to engage a part of our foundation’s capital in impact investing, we launched a detailed selection process. We then reached the conclusion that Obviam’s track record and its flexible investment solutions are the perfect fit for our foundation,” said Sushant Sharma, Chief Investment Officer at Fondation Botnar.
Obviam is using the US$60 million by Fondation Botnar to launch its umbrella fund, Obviam Impact Investing ICAV.
The fund is structured as an Irish Collective Asse-management Vehicle with sub funds, giving Obviam the flexibility to create new sub funds with no major administrative hurdles for professional and institutional clients wishing to engage in impact investing.
