Alliance puts its money in green investment bank CCC

ONE of Scotland's biggest financial services groups has acquired a multi-million pound stake in a "green" investment bank.

Dundee-based Alliance Trust is one of four investors taking a holding in London-headquartered Climate Change Capital Group (CCC).

The four are taking a stake worth £56 million, more than half of the company's shares.

CCC advises and invests in companies which make their money by tackling climate change as a business opportunity.

Raymond Abbott, head of private equity for Alliance Trust and the managing director of private equity division Alliance Trust Equity Partners, has been appointed to CCC's board.

The stake in CCC includes working capital to grow the business further, while the investors – which also include pension fund the Universities Superannuation Scheme, Dutch banking and insurance business SNS Reall and Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co – have also committed £20m to a new fund of funds.

Alliance Trust has more than £60m invested in the environmental and low-carbon sector in several investments but the company plans to expand its interest in the sector.

CCC chief executive and co-founder Mark Woodall said: "We are delighted to welcome these new shareholders who recognise, like us, that combating climate change is an economic opportunity as well as a necessity.

"They, like us, are in this for the long term and wish to play a part in the development and financing of new products and services in this fast-growing sector."

He added: "With the help of our new shareholders we can now seed our funds with capital. We are now in an even stronger position to deploy capital at scale to create wealth worth having."

CCC's employees, including the board and managers, will retain the majority of their existing shares and own approximately 30 per cent.

Katherine Garrett-Cox, chief investment officer of Alliance Trust, which manages over £2.8 billion of assets, said it was the company's biggest single investment in the low-carbon sector.

She said: "As an investor we believe carbon reduction is a compelling investment theme that we are keen to explore.

"We are also seeking to invest efficiently in private equity by investing in funds and co-investing, where possible, to ensure we maximise our returns and reduce costs."

She added: "We intend to commit more funding to the climate-change sector in the future and with CCC in particular due to their leading market position."

Separately, CCC, which has $1.5bn under management, said it had appointed Vivienne Cox, executive vice-president and chief executive of Alternative Energy, as a non-executive director.

CASHING IN

CLIMATE Change Capital specialises in funding companies which want to cash in on the opportunities created by the low carbon sector. It has advised and raised capital for a number of low carbon projects, including financing renewable energy installations in the UK.