Private equity firm Ecosystem Investment Partners (EIP), a leading private equity firm, has held the final close of Ecosystem Investment Partners IV, (EIP IV). The fund was oversubscribed closing at its hard cap of USD454.5 million. Monument Group, one of the industry’s leading placement agents, served as global placement agent again on the raising of the fund, which was oversubscribed, exceeding its target in less than 10 months. Consistent with EIP’s prior funds’ investment strategy, EIP will continue investing in large-scale wetland, stream and habitat mitigation and restoration projects in the US through EIP IV.
EIP continued to receive strong support from its global, existing investor base, as well as garnering the backing of new limited partners, including pension funds, endowments, foundations, asset managers and family offices.
“We are very pleased to close EIP IV at its hard cap and to have raised the fund quickly,” said Nick Dilks, Managing Partner at EIP. “We believe that EIP has never been as well positioned to continue its targeted investment approach of delivering compelling outcomes for both investors and the environment through large-scale restoration activities. We thank our limited partners for their continued confidence in EIP.”
EIP was established in 2007 to make investments in ecological restoration and conservation projects at scale. These projects meet a large and growing demand for environmental offsets that mitigate unavoidable impacts to wetlands, streams, water quality and other important natural resources stemming from infrastructure, commercial, industrial and residential development. Additionally, EIP selectively undertakes investments that produce regionally significant restoration projects through Pay-for-Success contracts whereby the Firm delivers large-scale restoration to customers seeking fully-completed large-scale restoration at a fixed-cost.
EIP has a deep value-added network of public and private customers, natural resource agencies, domain experts, conservation organisations and local partners that provide positively differentiated market access and ability to deliver its product. EIP’s experienced team is capable of systematically sourcing and transacting on ideal properties EIP views as being located in attractive and diverse markets, while also providing the operational expertise that enables EIP to provide responsible ecological restoration and environmental stewardship outcomes across the US.
“EIP has added additional talent to complement its already strong team with the hires of Kyle Graham (formerly Executive Director for Louisiana’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority), Glen Williams (formerly co-founder of Terra Firma Associates, LLC), Jaime Zsiros (formerly a manager at environmental consulting firms and a regulator with the St Johns Water Management District in Florida), and Stephanie Freed (formerly an ecologist and project manager with leading environmental consulting firms),” says Adam Davis, a Managing Partner with EIP.
“It has been a pleasure to work with the EIP team since the formation of their institutional funds a decade ago and we were delighted by the overwhelmingly positive reception towards EIP IV, which substantially reduced the time the team spent on the road formally marketing,” says Ryan Mueller, Partner at Monument Group.
Mueller attributes EIP’s fundraising success to: “investors recognising that EIP is the clear leader in an inefficient yet growing market, as well as being a portfolio diversifier with uncorrelated features that offers the potential to achieve compelling returns.”
Mueller says: “It is truly gratifying to be associated with EIP and we wish them continued success for many more decades to come.”
