By Simon Jessop LONDON (Reuters) - French private equity investor Eurazeo said it has raised an initial 300 million euros ($314.64 million) for a fund investing in line with the planet's ecological
Eurazeo Raises €300M for Ecological Limit Investment Fund
By Simon Jessop
LONDON (Reuters) - French private equity investor Eurazeo said it has raised an initial 300 million euros ($314.64 million) for a fund investing in line with the planet's ecological limits and made its first investment in an agricultural pest-control firm.
The money raised at the first close of the Eurazeo Planetary Boundaries Fund, 10 months after its marketing launch, is 40% of the target amount of 750 million euros, Managing Partner Sophie Flak told Reuters.
The demand came from a range of institutional investors, including insurance companies, asset managers and family offices.
"Our fund is not based on regulation, it's not based on politics, it's based on the physical world ... you're seeing storms, fires and droughts, water shortages," Flak said.
"This fund is really about addressing the physical world challenges."
The fund uses a 'buy and build' strategy to scale up small- and medium-sized companies and has an advisory board of economic and environmental experts.
The fund's first investment was Bioline AgroSciences, which designs, produces and markets biological-based solutions to prevent pests destroying crops such as berries, flowers and vegetables.
The company, which the fund will take a majority stake in alongside family-owned impact investment fund Aurae, operates six factories across the United States, Britain, France, Spain and Kenya.
($1 = 0.9535 euros)
(Reporting by Simon Jessop; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)
