By Lynda Kiernan
The New York State Common Retirement Fund (NYSCRF) has made a commitment of $300 million to the Avenue Capital Sustainable Solutions Fund, according to an announcement made by New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli.
The NYSCRF is the third largest public pension fund in the U.S. It holds and invests the assets of the New York State and Local Retirement System on behalf of more than one million state and local government employees and retirees.
The committed capital was deployed as part of the State Comptroller’s Climate Action Plan to invest the assets of the $210 billion NYSCRF in a manner that would further address climate risk in its portfolio. As part of this plan, DiNapoli has committed $20 billion to its Sustainable Investments and Climate Solutions program, of which $8.5 billion has been deployed to-date.
“Climate change is one of the most significant risks facing investors and the warnings are growing increasingly dire,” DiNapoli said in a statement released in June 2019. “The Fund has taken many steps to assess and address climate risk already, but clearly more must be done and done quickly. This is a proactive plan to mitigate climate risk, capitalize on opportunities in the growing low carbon economy and protect the fund’s long term value.”
Founded in 1995 by its senior principals, Marc Lasry and Sonia Gardner, Avenue Capital Group is a global investment firm headquartered in New York with nine offices spread across the EU, Asia, and Silicon Valley. With assets under management totaling $10.2 billion as of February 29, 2020, Avenue Capital’s primary focus is on investing in distressed debt and other specialty investment situations across the U.S., EU, and Asia.
The firm’s impact strategy pursues credit-oriented investments in private, middle market companies and related projects in agriculture and water resources, sustainable infrastructure, climate change mitigation, resource efficiency, clean energy, and safety and security, that advance social and environmental impacts while generating attractive risk-adjusted returns.
Toward this end, the firm engages with growth-stage companies seeking direct financing, and projects and companies that align with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, offering private credit opportunities, senior secured lending, second lien debt, mezzanine debt, and private equity and warrants, according to the firm’s website.
“New York state’s pension fund will continue our leadership on the issue of climate change and take advantage of the opportunities created by the global transition to a lower carbon, sustainable economy to strengthen the Fund,” said DiNapoli.
– Lynda Kiernan is Editor with GAI Media and daily contributor to the GAI News and Agtech Intel platforms. If you would like to submit a contribution for consideration, please contact Ms. Kiernan at lkiernan@globalaginvesting.