Lombard Odier Investment Managers (LOIM) and the Alliance to End Plastic Waste have joined forces to launch a circular plastic fund.
Alliance will act as technical adviser and cornerstone investor in the fund.
The aim is to raise $500m investments to allocate scalable solutions to remove plastic waste from the environment, increase recycling, and drive the global transition towards a circular economy for the plastic value chain.
As the firms noted, only 9% of the world’s plastic is recycled. They said the fund will target themes that directly contribute to the circular economy for plastic and accelerate opportunities in overall waste management.
This includes collection and sorting infrastructure, technology-enabled recycling infrastructure, design solutions for improved plastic durability, reuse and recyclability.
Jacob Duer, president and CEO of the Alliance, said: “Our goal in partnering with Lombard Odier in relation to a circular plastic strategy is to grow investments in solutions that can help end plastic waste and contribute to a circular economy.
“The strategy harnesses the collective intelligence of the plastic value chain and connects it with capital, bringing much needed solutions to scale.
“I am confident this will help focus financial market attention on the investment opportunity that plastic circularity represents, and help to catalyse multiple sources of financing for investments in circular solutions for plastic waste.”
Jean-Pascal Porcherot, co-head of LOIM and managing partner of Lombard Odier Group, added: “LOIM is proud to be partnering with the Alliance to build and manage a ground-breaking fund that addresses the plastic circularity issue with true solutions. This important mandate reflects the shared values between the Alliance and LOIM,.
“This strategy… will target opportunities across all segments of the private equity spectrum – including direct and co-investments investments – with the objective to reduce plastic waste issues worldwide and deliver attractive financial returns and sustainability outcomes.”
In 2020, global wealth and asset manager Lombard Odier announced a partnership with Plastic Bank to help prevent ocean pollution and committed to funding the collection of over 795 tons of ocean-bound plastic in Haiti and Egypt.
In 2021, it confirmed this target had been met – equivalent to more than 39 million plastic bottles – and 90% of materials have been recycled.
