Guise Capital is the only European Search Fund (and we believe the only Search Fund worldwide) to incorporate a consideration for Impact and ESG in their search. Our definition of Impact Investing aligns with the Corporate Finance Institute:

‘Impact investing is a strategy that seeks to create a specific positive impact or outcome. What sets it apart from pure philanthropy (like cash donations) is that impact investing includes an expectation of financial returns that are (at least) comparable to market returns.’

Our fund will analyze all companies through the usual parameters employed by Search Funds, but with the additional lens of an Impact and ESG criteria. The reasoning for this is the following:
•    Companies with strong ESG convenance or ESG potential are better strategic long-term acquisitions due to future resource reliance mitigation, better management of people and stronger governance. 
•    In the long-term, it is likely that exiting a company which can prove a level of strong governance, low environmental impact and a positive social or environmental outcome will be easier to dispose of (based on current trends for ESG-led investing).
•    It gives us a point of difference when discussing the purpose of our fund with potential sellers. 

We have designed our own proprietary assessment of impact below: