Lighthouse Canton becomes signatory for UN's Principles for Responsible Investment

Lighthouse Canton's Asset Management business has become a signatory of the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). Over the years, the global investment institution's asset management business has developed skills across alternative investment strategies while incorporating responsible practices in the investment processes.

According to a study by BNY Global, an increasing number of institutional investors are looking to increase allocations to alternatives because of the need to find increased and uncorrelated returns. In the same report, investors have sought to consider environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors in their investment strategy, manager selection, or even exclusion lists. However, they lack the availability of reliable, transparent, comparable, and standardized data and metrics to measure performance. 

Since launching its first fund in 2015, Lighthouse Canton claims to have worked towards including aspects of ESG considerations in its investment philosophy and frameworks across asset classes in both the private and public markets. "Becoming a signatory to UN PRI is a significant step towards us formalizing and enhancing our existing processes. Strong governance standards have always guided our investments and we have always looked for innovative investments in sustainable businesses that empower growth", said Sanket Sinha, executive director and global head of asset management at Lighthouse Canton. 

Lighthouse Canton runs diversified strategies such as private equity in real estate, direct lending, venture equity, venture debt, public equities, and global macros. Throughout the lifecycle of its investments, it is taking steps to ensure that ESG considerations are incorporated and that the investments are purpose-driven and accretive for the investors. 

Through venture capital and venture debt funds, the firm provides innovative startups in pioneering fields such as FinTech and HealthTech with the capital and resources they need to grow and expand, helping drive innovation and technological progress, driving improvements in standards of living and social welfare across the region. 

Additionally, through the firm's short-term debt fund, the firm identifies sustainable business. It bridges the funding gap to SMEs that are the backbone of the Asian economy, accounting for a significant portion of the region's GDP and providing employment opportunities for many people. 

Through its private equity real estate strategy, the firm is focused on developing real estate space for life sciences research and development in India. While the investment contributes to innovations in life sciences in an emerging market, the buildings have been built and designed for green property certifications and building operations standards such as LEED and, on an annual basis, utilize the GRESB framework to benchmark its ESG goals against global peers.