The Hong Kong based insurance firm AIA is targeting big allocations to impact investing, and its starting with a $US200 million deal with Leapfrog.
Asian investors have been slower to engage with impact opportunities than US and European institutional investors.
“Asian clients now account for almost 30% of our investor base, up from less than 5% three years ago. It is a significant increase as Asia is now almost as important as a source of funding as Europe or the US,” said Andy Kuper, LeapFrog’s CEO.
The deal follows in the footsteps of the Singaporean sovereign wealth fund, Temasek, signing a long-term investment agreement with Leapfrog committing to some $US500 million of support.
The influential impact manager has recently expanded its approach from supporting ‘emerging consumers’ with low cost health and investment products, to also investing in climate solutions.
Leapfrog’s been an impact investing pioneer ever since the private equity firm was founded some 14 years ago, and the deal cements that reputation. It’s now raised a total of more than $2 billion since 2007.