The London Waste and Recycling Board (LWARB) has announced its strategy to invest up to £3 million into a private equity fund. The aim will be to invest in venture-stage or growth-stage businesses that will help accelerate the move to a circular economy in London.
LWARB has already contributed £18 million to the London Green Fund, launched in 2009, and over the last four years has directly invested in a number of waste infrastructure projects in London.
The new fund‘s focus is likely to be on innovative waste management technologies, and may also emphasise less capital-intensive, asset-light business models in the wider circular economy sector.
Richard Tracey, Chair of the London Waste and Recycling Board said:
London is growing and we will need increasingly to find innovative ways of preventing waste and dealing with unavoidable waste. With this fund we hope to continue supporting the development of infrastructure and businesses in London, and also accelerate the move to a circular economy in the capital. It’s this kind of approach which will reinforce London’s position as a global hub of expertise and job creation in this emerging sector.
Melville Haggard, Chair of LWARB’s Investment Committee, said:
We are looking forward to engaging with fund managers interested in co-developing this fund. Building on our past experience of financing waste infrastructure projects in London, we are confident that this new finance product addresses the needs of early stage ventures, helping businesses with high growth potential to get off the ground.
A Prior Information Notice (PIN) has been issued in the Official Journal of the European Union – http://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:271077-2015:TEXT:EN:HTML&src=0. LWARB will conduct a period of consultation with potential providers in order to prove the concept, and develop views on the optimal fund structure. Proposals will need to have a London geographical emphasis, in terms of either job creation, investment, customer concentration or waste sourcing.
For details on LWARB’s business plan, visit relondon.gov.uk.
