The European Commission’s attempt to spur high-impact investments around the world is too slow, too bureaucratic, and hamstrung by suspicion of the private sector, according to a Belgian asset manager.
Loïc De Cannière, founder and managing partner at Incofin Investment Management, an impact investor with €1.2 billion in assets, told Devex that four years after the European Union executive began trying to use budget guarantees to steer investments into priority sectors in low-income countries, his firm is “extremely frustrated” by the commission’s “lack of realism and on-the-ground knowledge.”
Headquartered in Belgium with offices in Colombia, India, Kenya, and Cambodia, Incofin’s investors include development funds, banks, insurance companies, and pension funds. Its portfolio features equity stakes and debt finance in areas such as microfinance and agriculture-related financial technology. On paper, it would seem an ideal partner for the commission as the latter tries to mobilize private money in aid of the Sustainable Development Goals.