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Lombard Odier Investment Managers
Swiss group Lombard Odier Investment Managers (LOIM) has announced the first close of its Plastic Circularity Fund, following interest from corporates, pension funds and private investors.

Among the initial investors to make commitments in the LOIM Plastic Circularity Fund are US chemicals multinational Dow and LyondellBasell. Their support complements commitments by institutional and private financial investors, the firm said in a statement.

The Plastic Circularity Fund is a private equity strategy that aims to reduce plastic waste and greenhouse gas emissions in the plastic value chain while delivering market returns. This fund meets the standards of a Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) Article 8 fund as outlined by the European Supervisory Authorities. 

The fund follows a technical, impact and financial screening process to identify and invest in companies offering innovative plastic materials designed for reuse and recyclability, and improved collection, sorting and recycling solutions. It leverages the technical and industrial expertise of the Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW) through a unique collaboration to accelerate the transition toward a plastic circular economy. The fund will also have an advisory committee.

In addition to investing in the fund, Dow’s Stephanie Kalil, senior global business director polyethylene, will join the fund’s advisory committee. She brings insights on business management, strategy, technology and materials science innovation paired with deep industry knowledge, the firm continued.

“Consumer demand, science and innovation are converging at this point in time to pave the path for a circular future. The LOIM Plastics Circularity Fund will help enable novel solutions for plastics circularity,” Kalil said. 

“LOIM’s Plastic Circularity Fund aligns with our ambition to help end plastic waste in the environment and accelerate the development of a circular, low carbon economy,” Yvonne van der Laan, executive vice president, circular and low carbon solutions at LyondellBasell added. 

“With this new strategy, we continue the expansion of our Private Assets franchise, into direct investments, which started in 2017. It provides a new fertile ground to leverage Lombard Odier’s access to leading private equity managers and high-quality co-investment opportunities,” Christopher Tritten, global head of private assets at LOIM, said. 

Plastics enable innovations in 30 per cent of the global economy, including construction, medical, transportation and food safety. There are limited substitutes in more than 50 per cent of these applications and these alternatives do not provide similar performance. However, the global problem of plastic pollution is a widely recognized challenge, with significant consequences for our planet. LOIM said it is positioned with this new strategy to catalyze investment into solutions that tackle this challenge head on. This is a solvable problem where more innovations, startups and investments are needed to scale.

Lombard Odier Investment Managers has a network of 13 offices across Europe, Asia and North America, with assets under management of SFr63 billion ($70.5 billion).