Hamilton Lane’s impact fund to tap secondaries market

Hamilton Lane has earmarked a portion of its debut impact fund for opportunities in the secondaries market.

The private investment firm gathered over $95 million for Hamilton Lane Impact Fund, according to a statement. It launched the vehicle in 2018 with a target of $100 million.

The majority of the fund will be invested directly alongside lead sponsors, and the firm will reserve “a portion of capital to invest into primary impact funds or secondary sales of portfolios that may have a strong impact focus”, a Hamilton Lane spokeswoman told Secondaries Investor. This would include buying impact-focused portfolios from LPs looking for liquidity.

Investing in the secondaries market adds diversity to the fund’s investments and will enable the firm access to more areas of the market, the spokeswoman noted.

Investments will be made across private market strategies including buyouts, growth, venture and real assets, the firm said in the statement.

Capital raised for the Impact Fund will be invested in developing markets focused on core impact sectors health and wellness, energy and environment, community development and financial empowerment

The firm has made seven investments out of the fund thus far, the spokeswoman said.

Hamilton Lane’s global deal teams will drive the firm’s Impact Fund in conjunction with the firm’s responsible investment committee, led by chief executive Mario Giannini. For deals to be considered for the Impact Fund, they will need to pass a two-step committee approval – first via its regular investment committee and then by the RIC, the spokeswoman noted.

In May last year, Blackstone launched an impact investing platform that is nested within its Strategic Partners unit, hiring Tanya Barnes as managing partner to lead the effort.

The Global Impact Investing Network estimated that the impact investing market reached $715 billion as of end-December, a 42.4 percent increase on the equivalent period in the previous year. The top sectors for investment reported by respondents are energy and financial services. More than half of the capital is allocated to developed markets, with the US and Canada being the top regions of investment, the study found.