Swiss investor LGT has acquired Aspada, an India-focused impact investment fund, to expand its impact investing platform LGT Lightstone.
LGT said in a statement it has acquired the management organisation of Aspada and a significant majority position of its portfolio from Aspada’s sole shareholder, Soros Economic Development Fund (SEDF).
Following the acquisition, LGT's future investments in India will be branded under the name LGT Lightstone Aspada.
Aspada was launched in 2013 by the Soros Economic Development Fund. It also manages the portfolio of the SONG Fund, an early stage venture capital firm backed by the Soros Economic Development Fund, Omidyar Network and Google.
Aspada has invested in more than 15 companies focused on food supply chains, healthcare, education and financial services. Its investments include lending platforms Capital Float and NeoGrowth, hospital chain Be Well Hospitals, fresh produce distribution startup Waycool, fresh fruit supply chain firm InI Farms and cold chain logistics firm Schedulers Logistics.
H.S.H. Prince Max von und zu Liechtenstein, CEO LGT, said that the acquisition of Aspada and the launch of the brand Lightstone is a significant step in furthering LGT Group’s commitment to impact investing and sustainability.
The Aspada team will be brought on board to build out the LGT Lightstone platform, Max added.
“In LGT and Prince Max we have found an aligned and committed long-term partner not only for building out the next phase of Aspada’s evolution in India, but also for co-creating a distinctive global platform that can be the vanguard of impact investing,” said Kartik Srivatsa, managing partner of Aspada.
LGT Impact has been fully controlled by the Liechtenstein Princely Family for over 80 years. The impact investor managed assets of $218 billion as on 30 June 2019. It has presence in more than 20 locations in Europe, Asia, the Americas and the Middle East.
The Swiss investors investments in India include Waycool, Ummeed Housing Finance, Aye Finance and Thirumeni Finance, which operates under the Varthana brand, ed-tech startup Imax Program and electric vehicle fleet operator Lithium Urban Technologies.
