We bring together financial and impact diligence to help investors navigate a fragmented and nascent market.
Our recommendations are guided by your objectives. We have no in-house funds and no buy-list.
We work with institutional investors, including pension funds, insurers, foundations and family offices, and conduct manager research.
Structured, data-led visibility into the global investable universe, mapping opportunities across themes and asset classes, rather than relying on inbound flow or one-off market scans.
Every engagement is built around your sustainability and impact objectives, not a template. We have no in-house products, and our recommendations are guided by your objectives.
Financial and ESG/impact assessments conducted by our research team, integrating both dimensions from the outset.
Our methodologies are tailored to each asset class and apply consistent financial and impact criteria from screening through to monitoring.
We collaborate with investors globally and share insights on what peer institutions are doing, to inform each engagement.
An extension of your team. Not a replacement for it.
We handle the breadth of manager research and diligence, and bring structure and peer perspective to support your team's decisions.
Build a transparent view of the opportunity set across managers, themes and asset classes, supporting more informed sourcing decisions and reducing reliance on inbound opportunities and ad hoc ideas.
Apply a structured, standardized analysis and framework across managers and asset classes.
By handling the breadth of manager research and due diligence, we free up your team to focus where it matters most to you.
Where managers are closely matched or a technical question is borderline, we provide structured analysis and peer perspective to support your team's decision.
A structured process, tailored at every stage.
Most investors focus heavily on due diligence and structuring, yet which opportunities are considered in the first place can significantly influence outcomes. A weak sourcing funnel limits what diligence can achieve. Our five-stage process starts upstream, with universe mapping across impact themes, sectors, geographies and asset classes, so that by the time a manager reaches your committee, the field has been shaped by a structured process rather than assembled from inbound relationships and anecdote.
Beliefs questionnaire, stakeholder consensus, impact thesis definition.
Structured sourcing across sustainable themes, asset classes, geographies and structures.
Mandate design, portfolio construction, investment sizing, and definition of measurable success metrics.
Customized search combining financial and ESG/impact analysis, with transparent benchmarking and structured comparisons.
Ongoing sustainability and impact monitoring and manager reassessment.
How are sustainability risks and impact identified and integrated at deal level from the outset?
Are risks and positive impact actively managed and monitored throughout the holding period?
Is impact preserved, evidenced, and reported at realization?
We assess how impact is generated and managed at each stage of the holding period.
We assess how impact is generated and managed, as well as how it is described.
To execute impact-related searches, we combine bfinance's ESG due diligence framework with an impact investing methodology embedded throughout our manager research and selection process.
The objective is not to categorize funds based on labels, but to assess whether a manager has an approach designed to deliver intentional, measurable impact alongside financial returns.
Beyond labels
We look beyond headline claims, SFDR classifications (the EU sustainability disclosure framework) and marketing narratives. In our work, we observe that strategies vary in the clarity of their impact objectives, the design of their measurement frameworks, and the degree to which impact considerations influence investment decision-making.
Our assessments are comparative and informed by ongoing exposure to the market, which allows us to benchmark managers against peer groups and identify where impact objectives are not reflected in the investment process.
Four pillars of assessment
Organization-level commitment to sustainability and impact: governance, culture, incentives, resources, team experience and track record.
The sustainable and impact aspirations of the strategy: target themes and the underlying theory of change.
Impact strategy and processes pre- and post-investment, consideration of double materiality, and use of industry frameworks, tools and resources.
The quality and transparency of reporting, and accountability mechanisms.
Investment decisions informed by both financial and impact analysis.
Impact does not live in one asset class. Neither does our experience.
Impact opportunities are dispersed across asset classes, themes and geographies, and no single generic screen can do justice to all of them. bfinance has built analytical frameworks specific to each asset class, informed by our mandate experience, so that our universe mapping reflects how each market works rather than how it is labeled. Mandate examples are representative only.
Global growth and buyoutBiodiversity and social (inequality)
European growthClimate
US growth and buyout; VC and climate impact
Infrastructure debt; direct lending; natural capitalClimate, health and education
European corporate direct lending
Infrastructure debt and equity; renewables; diversifiedReal estate: social impact
Social and affordable housing: UK and EuropeanNatural capital: climate and biodiversity
Regenerative agriculture, nature-based solutions, timberland
Global thematic equity; global impact equityBiodiversity equityFixed income
Environmental and sustainable labeled bonds
Sarita Gosrani
Senior Director, Head of ESG and Impact Investing
To discuss your responsible or impact investment objectives, get in touch with our team.
Impact in practice
Examples of how we have supported investors with their responsible and impact investment objectives. Case studies are illustrative and client details are anonymized.
Recent ESG case studies
Biodiversity Equity
The asset owner sought a biodiversity focused fund to align its investment strategy with environmental stewardship while achieving competitive financial returns.
Global ESG Equity
The asset owner, a Nordic private pension plan, was seeking one global ESG equity manager to complement their existing global equity allocation. The investor was open to all management and...
Portfolio & Manager Review
A UK pension fund appointed bfinance to support them in the review and potential reconfiguration of its active global equity and multi-asset credit portfolios.
Strategic Investment Review
A UK-based Charity was seeking support for evaluating their current investment approach and strategic asset allocation.
Developing a Responsible Investment Policy
A mid-sized global insurer was seeking to align themselves with ‘best practice’ in incorporating appropriate Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors into their investment approach.
Public Equity – US Large Cap Value ESG
This Canadian pension fund, which traditionally uses an internal team for conducting manager searches, had already reviewed several managers in this asset class before enlisting bfinance’s...
ESG/Impact Maritime Leasing
The client, a UK endowment fund with strong environmental, social and governance (ESG) credentials, was looking to further diversify its existing infrastructure programme. The endowment’s investment...
Impact Real Estate – Social Housing
The client, a UK endowment, was looking to allocate GBP 20 million to Impact Real Estate, focusing on affordable housing. Although the client indicated a minimum return requirement of 8% per annum,...
ESG Passive Equity
The client, a Dutch private pension fund, was reorganizing and consolidating its equity allocation, moving from a mix of active and enhanced index exposures to a fully passive equity portfolio. The...
European Equity, ESG Focus
A Pension Fund in the Benelux region sought a pan-European equity manager for a EUR 55 million mandate that spanned both EU and non-EU equity markets. ESG was the driving force behind this search:...
Private Equity, Regional Impact
A leading UK corporate pension plan was contemplating an investment in a manager’s second infrastructure fund, having already invested in the first. Although the manager was offering an extremely...
ESG Emerging Markets Equity
This Nordic Family Office sought to identify a minimum of two active global emerging market equity managers, explicitly incorporating ESG considerations, and invest US$280 million split equally.
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