Allied Climate Partners Makes Inaugural Catalytic Investment, Anchors SEACEF II First Close

NEW YORK, Jan. 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Allied Climate Partners (ACP), the innovative philanthropic investment organization recently launched at COP28, today celebrated the first close of the Southeast Asia Clean Energy Fund II (SEACEF II), managed by Clime Capital. Allied Climate Partners’ mission is to increase the number of bankable, climate-related projects and businesses in emerging economies to create significant environmental, economic, and social impact. ACP is the anchor junior equity investor in SEACEF II.

“The lack of bankable, climate-related projects and businesses is a major barrier to accelerating the climate transition and green economic growth opportunity in Southeast Asia,” said Allied Climate Partners CEO Ahmed Saeed. “Managed by Clime Capital, SEACEF II will provide the catalytic capital required for early-stage developers and businesses to deliver renewable energy, energy efficiency, and grid solutions across the region. ACP’s intention is to catalyze additional funds like SEACEF II, that are targeting the project development financing gap at scale in emerging markets and developing economies around the world.”  

Mason Wallick, Chief Executive Officer, and co-founder of Clime Capital, said, “SEACEF II is the first blended investment fund in Southeast Asia to provide early-stage high-risk capital to support promising businesses accelerating the region’s low-carbon transition. Allied Climate Partners’ commitment to this fund contributes an essential element to the fund’s unique blended model, enabling us to address the specific needs of our target projects.”

Allied Climate Partners is proud to be the anchor junior equity investor in SEACEF II, providing SEACEF II with catalytic, first-loss, capital and working alongside Clime Capital to mobilize other investors to participate. ACP, alongside other first close investors, and Clime worked together to scale SEACEF II from its original proof of concept into a larger platform, with the shared goal of increasing the number of investible, scaled climate projects and companies across Southeast Asia. ACP seeks to further the climate and financial goals of Clime Capital and SEACEF II not only by providing first-loss capital but also through value-added support and targeted strategic partnerships.  ACP believes that a dearth of risk bearing equity is a key bottleneck for the decarbonization of developing economies.

Allied Climate Partners was incubated and developed by Three Cairns Group, a mission-driven philanthropic investment organization. Mark Gallogly, Chair of ACP, and Co-founder of Three Cairns Group (3CG) said “We started Allied Climate Partners in order to aggregate catalytic, first-loss capital for funds like SEACEF II that can make a real difference on environmental, economic, and social impact in emerging economy regions like Southeast Asia. We are excited by this model of public-private-philanthropic collaboration, look forward to what Clime and SEACEF II can accomplish, and are eager to expand this to other fund managers and economies.”

SEACEF II builds on Clime Capital’s first fund, SEACEF I, which was anchored by, Sea Change Foundation International (Sea Change), a philanthropic organization focused on climate change mitigation, and a core partner in ACP. Sea Change worked closely with 3CG in establishing ACP. With SEACEF I, Clime Capital built a portfolio of twelve early-stage investments in climate-related projects and businesses, and successfully catalyzed significant follow-on funding from private sector investors. One of SEACEF I’s early investments in Levanta Renewables, for example, was acquired by Actis in August 2022.

SEACEF II includes senior equity from the private sector, development finance institutions (DFIs), and multilateral development banks (MDBs), as well as catalytic junior equity from ACP and other parties. This first close of SEACEF II included senior equity participation from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group; FMO, the Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank; British International Investment (BII); Norfund; Swedfund; and Arnold Ventures. Junior equity investors included the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP), Australian Development Investments (ADI), ImpactAssets, and ACP. 

Across multiple geographic regions and multiple fund managers, ACP and its partners are initially looking to aggregate an $825 million investment platform, catalyzed by approximately $235 million in philanthropically-backed junior capital. As with SEACEF II, ACP anticipates providing catalytic, junior equity to initial investment managers in Africa, the Caribbean & Central America, and India. Like SEACEF II, senior equity is expected to be provided by MDBs, DFIs, and private sector actors. ACP would anticipate that these managers will ultimately mobilize approximately $11 billion upon full deployment for the construction of bankable, climate-related projects, generating a 47x capital mobilization multiplier on ACP’s junior, risk-oriented philanthropic capital, and a 14x multiplier on the aggregate investment platform. By proving this model, ACP aims to induce commercially-oriented public and private sector investors to provide capital where they likely would not otherwise.

A crucial part of ACP’s strategy is to leverage philanthropic capital to accelerate the flow of third party capital to climate-related projects in emerging economies. At COP28, ACP entered into strategic partnerships with a number of leading MDBs and DFIs, including the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group; U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC); British International Investment (BII), the UK’s DFI and impact investor; the African Development Bank (AfDB); Proparco, a subsidiary of Agence Française de Développement Group; FMO, the Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank; and IDB Invest, a member of the Inter-American Development Bank Group. ACP also signed a strategic partnership agreement with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Singapore-headquartered global investment company Temasek, and IFC to increase the number of bankable climate projects in Asia.

About Allied Climate Partners:
Allied Climate Partners (ACP) is a philanthropic investment organization with a mission to accelerate the climate transition and improve livelihoods in emerging economies by increasing the flow of capital to bankable, climate-related projects and businesses. ACP selects regional investment managers in emerging economies and supports them with first-loss capital, expertise, and the mandate to address a critical financing gap at the early, risk-oriented stages of the development process for climate-related projects and asset-oriented businesses. Without this support, many projects and businesses struggle to attract the necessary capital to achieve their climate-related goals. By proving this model, ACP aims to induce commercially-oriented public and private sector investors to invest where they likely would not otherwise.

About Clime Capital:
Clime Capital Management Pte. Ltd. (Clime Capital) is a Singapore-headquartered fund management company registered with the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Clime Capital is the manager of SEACEF I and SEACEF II. The Clime Capital team comprises senior professionals with deep Southeast Asian market experience in clean energy investments and developments. The team brings a diversified skill set in early-stage project funding and development, investment and portfolio management, project finance, design and engineering, operations, and environmental safeguards. Clime Capital has an on-the-ground presence in Vietnam, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Singapore.

About Three Cairns Group:
Three Cairns Group is a mission-driven investment and philanthropic firm focused on the climate crisis, founded by Lise Strickler and Mark Gallogly. Three Cairns Group incubated and developed Allied Climate Partners. Three Cairns Group’s goal is to develop and support cross-sector initiatives to accelerate the clean energy transition and drive transformative, equitable progress through three primary strategies: investments in innovating and scaling climate solutions; philanthropy supporting a pipeline of innovative leaders, projects, and organizations to catalyze equitable climate solutions; and incubation of projects to fill gaps at the intersection of climate, finance, and people, and develop organizations that can drive climate action at scale.

About Sea Change Foundation International:
Sea Change Foundation International operates as an international philanthropic counterpart to Sea Change Foundation. Sea Change Foundation and Sea Change Foundation International share a common strategy: to provide philanthropic support to nonprofit organizations focused on climate change mitigation and clean energy policy. Nat Simons and Laura Baxter-Simons are co-directors of Sea Change Foundation International.

No parties quoted above have received compensation for providing statements. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of any offer to buy any securities or service. This press release contains forward looking statements which may or may not be realized and are contingent on uncertain events.

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SOURCE Allied Climate Partners