German family office commits €200m to emerging markets impact mandate

By Mona Dohle

Stella Vermögensverwaltung GmbH (Stella), the investment entity of a German family office, has committed €200m to responsAbility, M&G’s emerging markets impact strategy supporting growth-stage companies across Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Stella invests on behalf of the Heinz Hermann Thiele Family Foundation and Julia Thiele-Schürhoff. The firm selected responsAbility as manager of the mandate with a focus on delivering long-term impact, Christoph Schlegel, managing director at Stella, explained.

“When selecting responsAbility as a partner, we were attracted by the threefold combination of M&G as a strong commercial parent supporting future growth, the first-class, truly global investment team assembled by Ralph Keitel, and the long-term institutional stability provided by the SIFEM mandate, which helps avoid potential future impact drift,” he said.

“I am convinced we will achieve our goals of deep social impact in emerging markets, alongside investment returns in line with our mainstream portfolio.”

Julia Thiele-Schürhoff added: “As an entrepreneurial family, we are committed to managing our wealth responsibly and with a long-term perspective. By focusing on emerging markets and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, this mandate allows us to deploy a meaningful share of our assets where the need for impact investment is greatest.”

The mandate will target growth-stage companies in Africa, Asia and Latin America that advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

responsAbility manages US$5.8bn in assets and has invested more than US$17.6bn across around 300 companies since inception.