The CEFC is committing up to $80 million into a new private equity fund managed by Crescent Capital Partners to drive ambitious emission reduction targets across a range of mid-market companies to help accelerate decarbonization across the economy.
The Fund, Crescent’s seventh, has completed its fund raising with commitments of $1 billion. The Fund will make partner and controlling investments into middle market businesses with an enterprise value of $100 million to $500 million.
The CEFC investment will help drive emissions reduction across portfolio companies acquired by the Fund. Significantly, this will see Crescent set decarbonization pathways for each acquired company, exceeding the requirements of the Paris Agreement, with the goal of achieving net zero Scope 1 and 2 emissions within 10 years of acquisition. Crescent will also focus on value chain emissions, mapping out the supply chain of each asset to identify specific activities and initiatives to drive a reduction in Scope 3 emissions. Similar measures will be considered across existing Crescent assets under management in earlier funds.
While the new Fund is generally sector agnostic, acquired companies are expected to be concentrated in the healthcare, industrial and services sectors. Healthcare companies are expected to make up a significant portion of the Fund’s portfolio given Crescent’s strong track record in the sector, with the potential to make an impact in an area that has yet to address decarbonisation meaningfully – the emissions footprint of the healthcare sector accounts for up to 4.41 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions globally.