“The Impact Investing World is Our Domain” – an interview with IEX Impact
Collective Action Investment Partners helps institutional investors find promising impact investments. According to Marjoleine van der Peet, one of the partners, impact investing requires an additional skill set. “It’s not something you do on the side.”
Does the company name Collective Action Investment Partners have an activist ring to it?
Marjoleine: “Collective stands for collaboration. That suits impact investors. Action is what it says: action, not just making plans. We support clients with promising impact investments.”
Making a profit by doing good?
Marjoleine: “Indeed. Financial return concessions aren’t necessary to make a positive contribution to people and the environment.”
When was Collective Action Investment Partners founded? Was there a direct reason for it?
Marjoleine: “We embarked on this adventure in 2020, during the lockdown. Like the five other founders and partners, I have an investment background. I was active in hedge fund investing in London, among other things. All the partners had experience in the impact sector and saw a gap between ambitions and what was possible. Simply put, institutional investors were willing to drive impact, but didn’t know how. Our goal was to remove the hurdles. What problems needed to be solved? Which companies offered solutions? The impact investment sector is our domain.”
Where does the company stand now?
Marjoleine: “We now have eleven people on the payroll. We’re receiving more and more assignments from institutional investors, but also from family offices. The new generation wants to see money used for positive purposes. I can name two major clients: the Danish private markets investor NIO and Dutch fiduciary manager Van Lanschot Kempen.”
Are retail investors outside the target group?
Marjoleine: “Indeed. You need a special permit for retail investors. It also requires a different service with a different, customized approach.”
What’s the difference between a charity and Collective Action Investment Partners?
Marjoleine: “We do have a commercial objective. Pension money simply has to generate a return, and we help with that. But there’s a place for both. Charities are particularly suited to solving problems for which there’s no good business model. Ideally, we strengthen each other.”
Is Collective Action now well-known among institutional impact investors?
Marjoleine: “We’re becoming more well-known. We’re having a lot of conversations. We’ve also built a track record. Our strength lies in our ability to look across the entire chain. From identifying problems and finding solutions to measuring impact.”
Is investing to achieve positive change and make a profit difficult?
Marjoleine: “It requires an extra skill set. It’s more than just investing. We do this all day, every day, and that’s why we don’t find it difficult. But it’s not something you do on the side. You have to be a specialist.”
Simply put, what’s the difference between a traditional investor and an impact investor?
Marjoleine: “An impact investor invests with a focus on returns plus positive change. Think of it as “investing-plus”. Anyone who approaches investing this way immediately becomes enthusiastic, in my experience.”
What does the investment universe Collective Action is targeting look like? In other words, what are the investments it’s targeting?
Marjoleine: “We’ve divided the impact universe thematically. Think of themes like biodiversity, circularity, education, etc. All themes are linked to the UN SDGs. Each team member is responsible for one or more themes. I focus on healthcare, circularity, biodiversity, and financial inclusion. Biodiversity is especially important right now. For example, we recently invested in a tech company that offers alternatives to harmful pesticides.”
Have you noticed a decline in the popularity of sustainable investing in your work and client interactions?
Marjoleine: “What’s happening in the US now isn’t positive for the climate transition there. You see investors investing more in Europe as a result. But everyone just carries on. When we look at an investment case now, we prefer not to have a company dependent on subsidies.”
Can you imagine impact investing ever becoming mainstream?
Marjoleine: “Yes, I can imagine that. If people see that returns and positive change can go hand in hand, that will undoubtedly lead to more impact investors. There are plenty of investment opportunities in the private markets we focus on. The impact investing market is definitely growing. We’re currently working with a client who has €3 billion to invest. That’s very possible.”
Finally, do you personally have a clear goal for what you want to achieve with Collective Action?
Marjoleine: “My main goal is to shift more capital from traditional investments to impact investments. Exactly, I’m a woman on a mission.”