While the world’s attention has been focused on COVID-19, the pandemic has only exacerbated the global challenges Palladium has been working to solve for over half a century. How can we accelerate that work as economies around the globe recover in a post-pandemic reality? The answer lies in our ability to mobilise private sector capital to deliver more impact at a larger scale.

In a long-term strategic partnership announced this week, Palladium has taken a minority equity stake in Bamboo Capital Partners. The partnership combines Bamboo’s track record of impact investing in emerging markets with Palladium’s global footprint, sector expertise, and substantial pipeline of investible opportunities.

Since its founding in 2007, Bamboo Capital Partners has believed in the potential of large-scale impact investing to help improve the lives of marginalised communities. Bamboo has partnered with UN agencies and global NGOs, and founded the SDG500 – a ground-breaking USD 500 million investment platform to accelerate progress towards the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

With Bamboo operating as the Asset Management arm of Palladium’s global business, the two organisations will work to mobilise $1B in private sector capital by 2023.

Bamboo will operate independently from Palladium's capital advisory services.

According to Jean-Philippe de Schrevel, Founder and Managing Partner at Bamboo, this is just the beginning. “We are now entering into this long-term strategic partnership with Palladium – a complementary, like-minded and mission-aligned business – in order to fast track our shared objective of delivering impact at scale.”

Palladium’s initial investment will provide Bamboo with growth capital to scale up and accelerate their offerings, including the development of the SDG500. The partnership will also expand Palladium’s existing capabilities beyond its current capital advisory, program management, strategy, and logistics.

Taking on Global Challenges

Investors are increasingly looking for ways to have a positive impact, and global wealth available for investment is estimated at USD 250 trillion. Tapping into this private capital is key to achieving the SDGs.

According to Palladium Chief Executive Officer Christopher Hirst, this deal couldn’t have come at a better time. “In the last 6 months, COVID-19 has exacerbated the global challenges we already faced; challenges that haven’t gone away while the world’s attention has been focused on the pandemic,” he says. “Palladium has been working to create positive impact for more than half a century, and never before has our mission felt more urgent or in need of investment.”

He adds, “What Bamboo and Palladium share is this sense of urgency. Coupling that urgency with our complementary capabilities and track records means we can meet these challenges with bolder, bigger, and more effective solutions.”

One of these solutions is the SDG500 platform, which offers an exposure to six impact funds targeting businesses in emerging and frontier markets, and provides investors with a diversified impact investment opportunity. The platform is managed by Bamboo and represents a coalition of private and public sector entities, including the UN Capital Development Fund.

With the injection of capital from Palladium, Bamboo will be able to accelerate the development of the SDG500 and create new impact investment products, deploying capital at a faster rate into a wider range of businesses – creating more impact and delivering stronger financial returns for investors.

Please join us in welcoming Bamboo to Palladium!

Click here to download the press release. Contact info@thepalladiumgroup.com to learn more.