Impax Asset Management Group plc is a specialist

asset manager Asset management is a systematic approach to the governance and realization of all value for which a group or Entity#In law, politics, economics, accounting, entity is responsible. It may apply both to tangible assets (physical objects such as co ...

based in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England.

History

The business was founded in 1998 to invest in companies whose work might reduce resource scarcity, with support from the

International Finance Corporation The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is an international financial institution headquartered in Washington, D.C. and a member of the World Bank Group that offers investment, advisory, and asset-management services to encourage private ...

. Various commentators have referred to the company's focus on environmental matters. On 18 September 2017, the group plc announced that it had entered into agreements to acquire 100% of Pax World Management LLC. The acquisition was completed on 18 January 2018. In December 2018, the company announced that it would be opening an operation in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

to serve clients after

Brexit Brexit (, a portmanteau of "Britain" and "Exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU). Brexit officially took place at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February ...

(the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

). After 23.7% of shareholders voted against the re-appointment of EY as the company's auditor in May 2018, the company was criticised by the Investment Association, over an apparent lack of independence of EY as its auditor, in December 2018.

Investments

The company manages environmentally focused equity investments such as

renewable energy Renewable energy (also called green energy) is energy made from renewable resource, renewable natural resources that are replenished on a human lifetime, human timescale. The most widely used renewable energy types are solar energy, wind pow ...

, water and waste management through various funds including Impax Environmental Markets, which is focused on environmental companies in North America, Europe and Asia was launched in 2002. Impax New Energy Investors is a €125 million fund which closed in August 2006 and Impax New Energy Investors II is a €330 million fund which closed in August 2011. It also manages listed equity funds on behalf of third parties including

BNP Paribas BNP Paribas (; sometimes referred to as BNPP or BNP) is a French multinational universal bank and financial services holding company headquartered in Paris. It was founded in 2000 from the merger of two of France's foremost financial instituti ...

. The company had

assets under management In finance, assets under management (AUM), sometimes called fund under management, refers to the total market value of all financial assets that a financial institution—such as a mutual fund, venture capital firm, or depository institutio ...

of £20.2 billion at 30 September 2020. However, it remains exposed to the risks that have adversely affected developers in the solar and wind industries. According to ''

the New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' research by Impax Asset Management Group has found that only one third of investors are sufficiently concerned about

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

to invest in clean energy implying that those investors are clearly failing to realise the risks of not doing so. The company has therefore been lobbying the

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street crash of 1929. Its primary purpose is to enforce laws against market m ...

to force companies to disclose the location of their assets so their exposure to environmental risks can be properly evaluated. The company has made some unusual investments: businesses supported by the company have included Royal DSM, a Dutch chemical company which had invented a food additive which reduces the

methane Methane ( , ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The abundance of methane on Earth makes ...

released by cows

burping Burping (also called belching and eructation) is the release of gas from the upper digestive tract (esophagus and stomach) of animals through the mouth. It is usually audible. In humans, burping can be caused by normal eating processes, or as ...

Significant shareholders

One of the largest institutional shareholders in the company, BNP Paribas, who had held a 28% stake in the business, sold more than 40% of its shareholding in November 2020.

References

{{Authority control Financial services companies of the United Kingdom Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange Asset management companies