wednesday, 11 January 2023
Aware Super today increased its equity stake in Xpansiv, the premier market-infrastructure platform for environmental commodities.
Xpansiv provides integrated technology and network capabilities which underpin the entire environmental commodities sector. The firm provides an end-to-end platform for registries, trading, portfolio management and market data.
Xpansiv also operates CBL, the largest global spot market for carbon credits, and H2OX, a top exchange for transacting water allocations.
International voluntary carbon markets are forecast to grow from the current $US1.5 billion to between $US50 billion by 2030 and up to $US1.5 trillion by 2050.1 They also have the potential to reduce global emissions reduction costs 50% by 2050.2
Aware Super’s injection of growth capital, alongside other institutional investor capital, will be used for additional strategic and growth initiatives including financing the acquisition of Evolution Markets Inc, a leading provider of transaction and advisory services in global carbon, renewable energy, and energy transition markets.
Aware Super’s Associate Portfolio Manager for Direct Equities, Josh Phillips, said the fund was excited to increase its investment in a transaction which offered strong risk-adjusted returns for the fund’s 1.1 million members.
“Aware Super is attracted by Xpansiv’s potential to bring efficiencies, trading scale and transparency to the global environmental commodities market which is thriving from the increased demand of corporates striving to meet net zero pledges, lower costs and improve ESG benchmarks,” he said.
“We see this investment opportunity as a win for our members’ retirement income stream, a win for the communities in which they live, work and retire, and a win for corporates around the world looking for scalable, transparent and sustainable methods to help meet their ESG commitments and net zero emissions pledges.”
Xpansiv Chief Commercial Officer Ben Stuart welcomed the investment which would further help establish the company as the global liquidity hub for carbon, water, electricity and fuels.
“Investments from institutional investors such as Aware Super reflect the market’s confidence in Xpansiv’s growth, while highlighting the interest in exposure to a global environmental commodities infrastructure platform that can facilitate the world’s increasing supply and demand for carbon offsets,” he said.
”With Aware Super’s support, we’ll continue building products and services to help fuel the ongoing energy transition and promote carbon neutrality, by providing a trusted venue where customers can execute their net-zero strategies.”
The transaction also marks the latest addition to the fund’s $1 billion-plus renewable energy investment strategy which will deliver benefits from the global transition to a lower carbon future. The fund recently acquired a 49% interest in the nation’s largest operating wind farm, Stockyard Hill Wind Farm, alongside Palisade Investment Partners.
1 Trove Research
2 ibid