We’re panel lawyers for several of the UK’s leading sustainable and impact finance institutions. This provides us with a deep understanding of the variety and challenges in impact investment.
We have a long-standing commitment to growing the impact investment landscape, through shaping policy and some of the most significant developments in the impact investment sector. For example, we worked with the UK Government on the design of social investment tax relief and have structured key institutions such as Big Society Capital and Charity Bank.
We have a strong track record of advising on impact investment transactions for both investors and investees. This gives us a rounded understanding of both commercial and impact motivations – our advice is tailored to the drivers of the client and each investment, with a view to preserving the integrity, purpose and impact of the investment outcomes.
Our team will help you navigate the legal and regulatory issues that may arise, including FCA regulatory considerations and related constitutional and governance issues.
If your focus is the emerging markets, we can help you to deliver impact, particularly in the small and medium enterprise (SME) space. Our advice is commercial and pragmatic, informed by on-the-ground experience from lawyers who have lived and worked in some of these regions which means we understand and can help navigate the local legal and business environments and manage the risks involved. Across our markets, we also have longstanding relationships with leading firms, meaning we can coordinate local advice and act as your single point of contact. Public healthcare, sustainable agribusinesss and forestry, financial services, affordable housing and renewable energy are just a few of the sectors in which we’ve helped clients to make an impact.
We will advise you at the outset on defining investment parameters and decision-making criteria, to help you amplify impact, and then evaluate the [financial and] social and/or environment impacts and the risk profiles of your investment. We can support you in structuring and documenting the whole spectrum of sustainable finance, impact investment and social investment transactions and activities, including:
- Investment as loans (secured and unsecured, senior or subordinated, syndicated and convertible
- Equity
- Quasi-equity (including revenue participation and royalties)
- Investment funds, and more.
