Sustainable private equity group Earth Capital Partners has confirmed the appointment of former New Star fund manager Edward Collins as its chief executive officer.

Until March of this year, Collins had been CIO of investment advisory group Aldbourne, a position that he held for the past two years.

He joins Earth Capital with more than 16 years’ multi-asset investing experience and as an asset management leader.

His previous roles include nearly eight years at Hanson Asset Management as a director and nearly seven years as CIO of Hanson Family Holdings.

Collins was a fund manager at New Star Asset Management between 2002 and 2009, working on the special situations desk. He joined New Star directly from university in 2002.

In a statement confirming Collins’ appointment as CEO, Gordon Power, chairman and CIO at Earth Capital said the company was looking to build on the launch of the Nobel Sustainability Fund.

He explained: “We are continuing to fund raise and have already deployed investments into some transformative innovations around the world that are focused on sustainability. Edward’s experience, knowledge and approach will be an invaluable asset to our team.”

Earth Capital was established in 2008 before merging with SET3 in 2015 to become part of the Earth Capital Group.

The group is controlled by Hargreaves Lansdown founder and Bristol City Football Club majority shareholder Stephen Lansdown and Gordon Power, the founder of ProVen Private Equity. The group currently manages around $1.2 billion, it confirmed in a statement.

In the same statement, Edward Collins added: “Sustainability as an investment theme is only going to increase in significance and our global group of specialist investment managers allows us to identify and support sustainable and innovative technology around the world.”