Specialist emerging markets (EM) asset manager Ashmore has launched the EM Impact Debt Strategy to help to plug the US$24 trillion fund gap across developing economies. Led by the firm’s Head of Impact Debt, Simon Cooke, the fund aims to deliver positive and measurable environmental and social impacts alongside strong financial returns. The strategy combines Ashmore’s recently established impact debt capability and is aligned with Article 9 under the EU’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR). Ashmore said it will provide investors with access to the entire hard currency EM impact debt opportunity set, enabling the deployment of capital at scale. Each prospective investment must contribute to at least one of the 169 sub-targets of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Ashmore will annually report on the outputs and outcomes associated with each portfolio holding. “We urgently need to mobilise trillions in private capital to plug the growing UN SDG financing gap in EMs,” said Cooke. “The strategy will target measurable impact and total return in a daily liquid asset class that offers investors an unparalleled combination of potential returns, potential impact, and potential scale within global fixed income.”
