Regenerative economic models create value and expand markets, rather than undermine them, says Kat Taylor.

Taylor is an investor and philanthropist, and alongside her husband Tom Steyer founded TomKat Foundation. She is also the co-founder of the Beneficial State Bank and co-founder of the TomKat Ranch Educational Foundation.

Taylor was also one of the speakers at the New Private Markets Investor Summit in New York in November. That's where we recorded this episode of the podcast in which Taylor describes how innovative business models in everything from autoloans to farm credit can, in her words, "make a buck a better way" and show that markets can be recalibrated to be part of a regenenerative, rather than extractive, economy.

Having shot to prominence in the early part of this decade, have sustainability-linked loans (or SLLs) become an enduring part of the private credit landscape? Or have they quietly gone out of fashion?

In this special edition of the podcast, co-hosted with PEI Group affiliate publication Private Debt Investor, we seek to chart the rise of sustainability-linked loans and assess how they are being used today.

To recap: these loans feature a margin ratchet whereby the borrower’s performance against certain sustainability targets can result in a lower interest rate in the case of outperformance, or an increase in the case of underperformance.

To help us assess the situation, we enlisted Nishan Srinivasan, head of origination and partner at Ambienta Credit. Ambienta is a firm that has, since inception in 2007, invested in companies operating in the realms of environmental and resource efficiency. Srinivasan spent 22 years at Credit Suisse, latterly as global co-head of leverage finance origination. He joined Ambienta in 2023 to help launch its credit platform.

In the early days it was not uncommon to see ratchets of 5 basis points relating to sustainability goals that were easily achievable, says Srinivasan. “Typically this was, dare I say, window dressing,” he said. “Quite de minimis in the context of the cost of the loan”.

Fast forward to today, and the targets are more ambitious, the discounts more meaningful – as much as 40 basis points – and there is more frequently a margin uplift in the event of failure.

Two major talking points at this year's New Private Markets Investor Summit: North America were the transformative force of AI and the pressing need for liquidity in private markets portfolios.

While neither of these topics are unique to impact or sustainable investing, they are of paramount importance and dominated discussions on stage and off.

In this episode, Jennifer Kenning, founder and CEO of Align Impact who served as expert chair for day one of the event, joins New Private Markets' Toby Mitchenall and Michael Bowen for a 10-minute wrap-up of the event.

Optimism, a common trait of sustainable investors, abounds. "In the political environment we are in today, and how much the space has shifted in the last 12 months, there is a misnomer out there at the moment that it is all negative," says Kenning, who goes on to delve into reasons why, particularly in the areas of liquidity and AI, there is much to be optimistic about.

When Kenza Himmi, the head of impact investing and partnerships at the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund, attends a pitch meeting with a fund manager, she keeps an ear out for a few non-negotiable items.

She wants to know the fund's intent and whether it is designed to direct capital to environmental and social solutions. She wants to know how the fund measures the impact of its investments. And, of course, she wants to know if a fund’s investments will create value over time.

Some managers have impressed; others, not so much. In this episode, Himmi, who will be a panellist at the Investor Summit: North America in New York City on 5 November, takes us behind the scenes and tells us what she likes to hear from fund managers during pitch meetings.

Is the field of impact investing growing in a healthy way, or is it being co-opted by firms for whom positive impact is secondary to asset gathering?

In this episode of The New Private Markets Podcast, we explore this fundamental question with Jed Emerson, a true veteran of the impact field, an author of multiple books and papers on the topic, and until April of this year, the chief impact officer for US wealth management firm AlTi Tiedemann Global. He's also the founder of Blended Value Group and holds a number of advisory positions.

The conversation was prompted by a lively online debate surrounding coverage of New Private Markets' Impact 50, in which Emerson had questioned the link between the dollar size of a fund and the size of its impact. You can read about the online exchange here, and you can read about the Impact 50 here.

We also touch on the distinction between NPM's Impact 50 and Impact Assets' IA 50, a different resource for investors in the impact space with which Emerson has been involved for more than a decade.

Financial performance is the key issue that will determine the viability of impact investing at scale in the long term. Given the relative youth of most impact funds, it is a topic still open to debate.

Asset manager Schroders has been examining the performance of its impact investments. The UK-headquartered firm released a study in collaboration with Oxford University’s Business School earlier this year which examined impact’s performance in listed equities. It has now released further research focused on private equity. Read NPM's coverage of the findings here.

The results are positive: private equity impact investments have outperformed the wider buyout and growth markets over the last decade.

In this episode, we speak to Schroders' co-head of impact management Catherine Macaulay and head of sustainability and impact for PE Paul Lamacraft to get their perspective on the findings.

When it comes to impact, private credit is often considered to be lagging behind other private markets asset classes. There are, however, signs that this is changing. Debt funds to hold a final close raised a combined $5 billion in 2024, the second-highest total of any asset class behind private equity.

Dutch institution APG Asset Management is one major LP to turn its attention to impact debt. The €616 billion fund recently moved into infrastructure debt with an impact focus and is considering buying impact credit assets in the US.

APG was one of the cornerstone investors in sustainable lending debutant Colesco, which raised €800 million for a mid-market European lending strategy with “a mission to unite capital and purpose”, the firm announced earlier this year. The Dutch firm, established in 2023, is seeking to raise between €1 billion and €1.5 billion. At €800 million, it has already become the largest private debt impact fund of its kind.

In this episode of The New Private Markets Podcast, we speak to Menno van den Elsaker, head of alternative credits at APG, and Colesco CIO Danny Vroegop to discuss the growth of the impact lending market, how LPs are approaching it, and where the opportunities for investors are.

Learn more about the Impact Investor Global Summit in London here

Don't be put off by political noise. Reduced competition and growing demand for energy has made investment in US renewable energy generation easier and more attractive, says Natalie Adomait, managing partner and chief operating officer in Brookfield's renewable power and transition group.

Adomait is one of the speakers at the Impact Investor Global Summit on May 20th and 21st in London. In this pre-event special episode of The New Private Markets Podcast, we speak with her about the firm's two giant energy transition funds, interest in emerging markets, and how actions taken by the Trump administration have affected market dynamics.

"For us, this is a fantastic time to invest," she said. "You see a little less competition from investors looking at these large developers that have strong track records, incumbent teams and ready-to-build projects. But there is less competition for them, despite the fact that the demand growth is actually increasing from where we saw it five to 10 years ago. It's easier [to transact], is the short answer, but the more interesting undertone is that it is actually more attractive."

At our upcoming event, Adomait will be speaking on a panel on the economics of the energy transition alongside Anders Bendsen Spohr from Novo Holdings and Stephanie Bilo from ResponsAbility Investments. Marjoleine van der Peet from Collective Action will chair the discussion.