Liberman family-backed Impact Investment Group in WA Super tie-up

Liberman family-backed Impact Investment wins first social and environmental mandate from mainstream super.

Berry Liberman and Danny Almagor.

The Liberman family-backed Impact Investment Group has secured its first social and environmental impact mandate from a mainstream institutional superannuation fund, securing $20 million from the Perth-based WA Local Government Super Plan.

The new WA Impact Fund will invest only in Western Australian assets and projects that have positive social and environmental impacts, as well as competitive financial returns.

Its initial focus will be on rooftop solar on community buildings, social impact bonds, sustainable agriculture and financing support for social enterprises.

The move by the WA Local Government Super Plan, better known as WA Super, is only the second occasion a mainstream super fund in Australia has provided a specific mandate for impact investment.

The first was in 2015 when hospitality industry-focused industry fund HESTA committed $30 million to create a dedicated impact investment fund managed by Social Ventures Australia (SVA).

Hesta has since committed a further $40 million to SVA.

Impact or so-called shared value investing provides investors with financial as well as social returns.

“Globally impact investing has gone mainstream. Now we are seeing that impact within the Australian market,’’ said Impact Investment Group’s head of product and strategy, Jeremy Burke.

A survey released in June by the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) of respondents managing $US239bn in impact investing assets found some of the world’s top fund managers, pension funds and family offices will invest more than $US37 billion ($56bn) into impact investments during 2019, a double-digit increase on the previous year.

Impact Investment Group (IIG), a member of GIIN, was founded by Danny Almagor and his wife Berry Liberman. It has more than $730m in funds under management.

IIG has a significant commercial property portfolio and three years ago it launched a $100 million solar income fund chaired by former Labor government adviser Ross Garnaut.

Mr Burke said WA Super was looking to raise co-investments to increase the size of the WA Impact Fund to as much as $50 million.

“Within the WA market we see opportunity to bring in private clients, a number of large foundations and a number of WA focused investors,’’ he said.

“The mandate is very innovative, so growing it to $50m over the period is a realistic goal.”

Mr Burke said he expected more super funds to offer impact investment mandates in the future.

The super funds have a big opportunity to create that positive impact members want.

Both HESTA and WA Super have show the leadership the industry needs,’’ he said.

“We are looking to open up discussions with a number of funds and look forward to continuing discussions we have started.”

WA Super’s CEO Fabian Ross said: “The locally focused impact investment fund is one of the first of its kind and we are honoured to be pioneering this form of investing. We want to make a difference for all the right reasons, and to help address some of WA’s social and environmental issues whilst continuing to have positive investment returns for our members.”