AIB, Ireland’s largest financial-services provider, has appointed Foresight Group to manage a new SME equity fund.
The AIB Foresight SME Impact Fund, which has a fundraising target of €75 million ($79 million), will back businesses helping to accelerate Ireland’s transition toward a low-carbon economy. The fund will be open to firms in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
AIB said it is providing a cornerstone investment of €30 million ($32 million) to the fund.
“As Ireland’s largest financial services provider with 2.8 million customers, AIB is committed to supporting the transition to a low-carbon economy, reducing our own carbon footprint and helping our customers to do the same,” said Cathy Bryce, managing director of capital markets at AIB. “Our ambition is that green and transition lending will account for 70 percent of new lending by 2030.”
As part of the partnership, Foresight, one of the UK’s most active SME inve