Venture Capital Fund Focuses On Greentech Investments

Institutional Investor looks at Socially Responsible Investing:

•Watch videos of II's Executive Editor, Mike Peltz, and reporters, Imogen Rose-Smith and Katie Gilbert.

•Read Imogen Rose-Smith’s report on the Compass Conference, the RFK Center’s SRI forum.

•阅读Katie Gilbert关于Sri 2.0的故事 - 今天的社会负责投资模型

•从SRI上的指南针会议上点击我们的幻灯片。

In spite of the change in investor attitude towards climate change, it still is possible to raise a new fund. All you have to do is create a new investment model, change investor expectations and lower the greed factor.

That’s how John Preston and Russell Read recently closed on the first $100 million of their Vanterra C Change Transformative Energy & Materials Fund. The fund, the first new partnership to raise greentech money in the last three years, will make “investments in companies that help transform the operations of industrial users and producers of energy and materials.”

Preston & Read’s approach is a radical departure from funds that have raised billions of dollars in green capital over the last few years, mostly from so-called socially responsible investors (SRIs), promising huge returns from game-changing ideas. But many of the ideas were based on massive global governmental expenditures and are already unraveling because governments are cutting back. Others, such as solar panel maker Solyndra have had to severely curtail their plans and programs despite more than $700 million in government and private capital. Already, venture capital and private equity funds are telling limited partners that the projected returns may not materialize – or may take longer to realize.

Preston & Read are changing the metrics. They are starting small, encouraging co-investing and funding or transforming businesses that already exist. No promises that can’t be kept.

“普雷斯顿（MIT技术转让的前负责人）普雷斯顿和一位能源企业家本人，普雷斯顿说，”普雷斯顿“有很大的投资和巨大的机会。但是，许多冒险大型资金部署的战略 - 将数亿次倒入由政府补助金锚定的长期项目 - 是错误的。机会正在帮助将旧工业企业转化为现代，节能的企业。“旧工业的创新成熟，”普雷斯顿说，创新必须沿着他们可以减少二氧化碳排放并进化到新市场，以满足新的价格和竞争性指导方针。

Preston is a big believer in “de-risking” Vanterra C Change’s green investments. But the de-risking takes place before the fund invests. “We are helping companies develop future business strategies and find new customers,” explains Preston. Only when a company has new business for its new direction will Vanterra C Change invest. ‘We want our investors to profit from every investment we make,” he says. A real departure from some of the megafunds that will only go for the increasingly illusory bases-clearing grand slam.

Preston and Read also decided to change the terms of engagement. Instead of charging a 2% annual management fee and a 20% share in the profits – a practice that has come under increased criticism from limited partners – their management fee is structured to approach costs of running the fund and the 20% share. More important, investors in the fund can invest alongside Vanterra C Change – up to three times the size of the fund’s investment, without the fees that many other funds usually charge.

对于普雷斯顿和读书，凯尔佩尔的前任总监筹集了1亿美元的C变革，这是一个运气的行程。他们被佛塔拉被挑选，这是一个基于纽约的私募股权基金，“希望投资投资者远离的地区”。Vanterra管理合作伙伴Shad Azimi和Alan Quasha，确信现有的Clean Tech投资模型被缺陷，在解决C变化之前筛选了80个不同的合作伙伴关系。

一旦阿兹米和必要sha identified C Change as the fund of choice, Vanterra brought in some of its own limited partners, including prominent Middle Eastern royal families, Reinet Investments, a publicly traded investment company and other high net worth individuals.

“绿色”的商机仍然丰富。投资者想参加。但随着全球经济持续停滞不前，重点已经改变了一些 - 从长期游戏改变技术转变为现在的改变。C变更识别转变和响应的能力应该是对他人吸取的教训。