The SWEN Impact Fund for Transition (SWIFT) strategy was launched in 2019,
with SWIFT 1, one of the 1st French infrastructure impact fund classified article 9 under Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation.
The choice of the SWIFT strategy for SWEN Capital Partners’ first impact fund stemmed from common-sense: electricity alone will not be enough to decarbonize our economy and, more broadly, of our communities. Sectors such as agriculture, heavy transportation and heavy industry cannot be fully electrified.
This is why SWIFT 1’s impact thesis focuses on decarbonizing those sectors, through investments in renewable gas infrastructures, mainly at a local scale, and is achieving this decarbonization through its 20 investments across France and Europe.
SWIFT 2 was launched in fall 2021. It is labeled Greenfin, and bears a portfolio of 22 companies, mainly located in Europe, alongside 2 investments in North America. Given the success of our first vintage, our impact thesis for SWIFT 2 carries on the spirit to decarbonize the hard-to-abate sectors through greenfield investments in renewable energy developers, mainly focusing on green gas production investments and diversifying our portfolio with investments in 4 companies dedicated to renewable heat, renewable electricity and carbon capture.
Six years following the launch of the SWIFT strategy, our focus on the “hard-to-abate” energy transition sector remains fully relevant:
- The war in Ukraine and broader geopolitical issues have reinforced the quest for energy sovereignty to the already colossal energy transition needs and gas supply needs in particular.
- As the acceptance of green gas as a solution to the climate crisis has continued to grow, many infrastructure players are now positioning themselves around this investment thesis, on top of conventional renewables such as electric or heat renewables.
As an impact pioneer investor and a mission-driven company since 2023, SWEN CP supports the rise of highly innovative companies and developers, a task that requires us to do some ground-breaking work on complex issues. Our efforts have focused on making sustainable value creation the guiding principle for all our investments and implementing a robust and transparent methodology for measuring environmental impacts, the results of which are regularly reported to LPs.
For SWIFT 1, we have made a commitment to make 30% of the team’s carried interest conditional on achieving impact targets, and we have raised it to 50% for SWIFT 2.
However, our greatest pride – and this report provides some fine illustrations of this in figures – is that our investors’ money benefits a truly virtuous sector. Typically, we work with developers who recover under-exploited agricultural waste and transform it into renewable gas and digestate from biomethane plants, therefore avoiding the use of chemical fertilizers. This comes with job creations, very often in rural areas where the job market is underdeveloped.
This momentum is also reflected in the enthusiasm of our investors. At respectively €175 and €714 million, SWIFT 1 and 2 have by far exceeded their target amount of respectively €120 and €300 million.
Finally, it is important to stress that being an impact investor does not mean compromising on financial performance. Strong net returns to our investors at end of 2024 from our first vintages clearly demonstrate that financial performance is fully compatible with impact, with four exits already executed.
In a sector that is gaining in maturity, the confidence placed in us by our historical investors and by new French, European and global players drives us to further increase our ambitions and further strengthens our determination to build, together, a truly sustainable world!
