- Newcore has successfully re-certified as a B Corp with a score of 164.6, making it the highest scoring dedicated real estate and infrastructure investment manager.
- The score makes the social infrastructure specialist the third highest scoring company in the UK, and the fourth highest scoring financial services business worldwide.
- The firm has overseen a marked improvement in score from when it first gained certification at 112.6 in 2020.
- Certified B Corporations are companies verified by B Lab to meet high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability.
Newcore has successfully recertified as a B Corp with a score of 164.6 out of 200, making it the world’s highest scoring dedicated real asset fund manager. The score represents a 52-point increase from when Newcore first obtained certification at 112.6 in 2020.
The recertification also makes Newcore the third highest scoring company out of around 2000 UK-based B Corp businesses, and the fourth highest scoring financial services company worldwide.
The firm’s social and environmental performance improved in all five criteria on which B Corps are evaluated: governance, workers, community, environment, and customers.
B Corps are companies that have been independently verified by non-profit impact advisory firm B Lab to meet high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability.
Firms must recertify for B Corp every three years to ensure that they maintain the standards required to be verified – a minimum score of 80 to be eligible for recertification – across their environmental and social performance.
Newcore adopts a place-based investment strategy of turning disused or inefficient assets into real estate that serves socially productive uses with benefit to local environments. Target social infrastructure sub-sectors for the firm include clinical healthcare, education and childcare, storage, waste management, and transport. The manager recently acquired its first GP surgery and plans to invest £100m in clinical healthcare over the next 2 years.
Kate Sandle, Director of Sustainability at Newcore Capital, said: “B Corp certification is – a notoriously rigorous and thorough process, so to re-certified with such an improved score is a testament to the work Newcore has put in to creating social impact and meeting high environmental standards over the last three years.
We look forward to continuing to improve in the future and working with B Lab and the B Corp community to encourage businesses to operate for the benefit of their broader stakeholders”
At the end of 2023 Newcore launched its latest core plus vehicle, the Newcore Social Infrastructure Income Fund (NSIIF), previously The Newcore Sustainable Income Trust, which is targeting a £350m equity raise. This followed a £190m final close for the latest vehicle in Newcore’s flagship value-add fund series, Newcore Strategic Situations V (NSS V). The manager’s B Corp status played a key role in the successful fundraise.
Hugo Llewelyn, CEO of Newcore Capital, said: “This is a very proud moment for Newcore. The business was conceived in 2011 with the conviction that there was a need for capital to be managed more responsibly and sustainably than the short-termist pre-2009 model. The team and I have worked very hard to ensure this principle has been integrated across all our operations.
“Social infrastructure makes a tangible, real difference to people’s everyday lives. Because of this, we believe it is particularly important for businesses working within the space to maintain high standards in relation to the environmental and social impact produced by their investments, and the score verifies that we have put this belief into practice.”
