NEW YORK and SINGAPORE, Oct. 25,
2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Circulate Capital, the investment
management firm dedicated to incubating and financing companies and
infrastructure that prevent ocean plastic, today announced that it
expects to receive US$90 million in
funding for its strategy to combat ocean plastic from several of
the world's leading consumer packaged goods and chemical companies,
including PepsiCo (NASDAQ: PEP), the first investor; Procter &
Gamble (NYSE: PG), Dow (NYSE: DWDP), Danone (EPA: BN), Unilever
(NYSE: UN) and The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO). Circulate Capital
anticipates formalizing definitive agreements with these parties by
early 2019.
Circulate Capital, its expected founding investors, and the
Ocean Conservancy, a leading nonprofit environmental advocacy
organization working to protect the world's ocean, will hold a
joint event during the Our Ocean Conference in Bali, Indonesia on October 29, where they will provide an overview
of Circulate Capital's unique investment model, which is designed
to create the lasting systems change needed to address the ocean
plastic crisis.
Circulate Capital's mission is to demonstrate the investibility
of the waste management and recycling sectors to attract the
billions of dollars of institutional investment capital that are
needed to scale integrated recycling and waste management companies
and infrastructure across South and Southeast Asia, regions identified as
contributing disproportionately to ocean plastic pollution
primarily because they lack the critical waste infrastructure to
manage the problem. Circulate Capital's investment model seeks to
mobilize institutional investment capital through financial
structures that blend concessionary and philanthropic funds with
market rate investment capital with a view to mitigating risk and
demonstrating that investment in the resource recovery sector can
ultimately provide attractive financial returns.
"We seek to catalyze systems change by removing capital as a
barrier to critical waste and recycling infrastructure development,
and today's funding announcement is a huge step towards achieving
this goal," said Rob Kaplan, Founder
and CEO of Circulate Capital. "Institutional investors are
unwilling to allocate to this sector because of a 'missing middle'
-- proven entities that demonstrate a track record of profitability
and offer a robust pipeline of investment prospects. By partnering
with the world's leading corporations, many of which are direct
competitors, we can leverage their patient capital and technical
know-how to build on-ramps for institutional capital at scale over
the longer-term."
"PepsiCo wants to help create, reimagine and realign the entire
ecosystem that generates and remediates ocean plastic pollution,"
said Dr. Mehmood Khan, PepsiCo Vice
Chairman and Chief Scientific Officer. "We joined Circulate Capital
as the very first funder because we share their inspired vision to
develop a circular economy in which we can take old plastics and
turn them into a new, reusable resource for future materials. It's
what consumers want, it's the right thing to do for our planet and
oceans, and it's good for business."
"P&G remains committed to doing our part to help stop the
flow of plastic to the ocean and we know it will take partnerships
and collaboration to make meaningful progress. We're proud to join
our fellow investors and the Circulate Capital team in working
together to generate the innovation and investment needed to solve
this critical global issue," said Procter & Gamble Vice
President of Global Sustainability, Virginie Helias.
"Circulate Capital's initiative is important because it empowers
local people in the regions most impacted by waste to develop
actionable and scalable solutions within their communities," said
Diego Donoso, business president of
Dow Packaging and Specialty Plastics. "There are many people with
both the ideas and the resolve to tackle this waste challenge and
Dow is proud to help provide the capital to make those ideas into
solutions."
"While we are working hard to ensure our packaging is designed
to be circular, the reality is that it cannot be reused, recycled
or composted without effective waste management systems in place,"
said Katharina Stenholm, Chief of
Cycles and Procurement Officer of Danone. "Financing is often a
barrier for proper waste management infrastructure implementation,
especially in countries where formal systems are absent or in
development. Investing in Circulate Capital would perfectly fit our
roadmap and would support our vision towards a fully circular
system where our packaging is safely reused, recycled or composted
and never becomes waste or pollution."
"We're proud to be taking a leading role in tackling packaging
waste, but we can't do this alone. Moving away from a linear
'take-make-dispose' model of consumption to one that is circular by
design will require new business models, investment in innovation
and the development of infrastructure," said David Blanchard, Unilever's Chief R&D
Officer. "This collaboration with Circulate Capital and other
partners is an important step in unlocking the investment required
to accelerate and scale up meaningful solutions to prevent plastic
waste."
"At Coca-Cola, we believe that every package has a value
and a life beyond its first use, which is why we are
fundamentally reshaping our approach to packaging with a bold,
ambitious goal to collect and recycle a bottle or can for every one
we sell by 2030," said Bea
Perez, Coca-Cola SVP, Chief Communications, Public
Affairs, Sustainability and Marketing Assets Officer. "Working
with other partners and organizations, our global World
Without Waste program aims to help create and implement
effective collection and recycling infrastructures, so that empty
bottles can have another life. Investing in Circulate Capital
brings us all closer to the change needed to make plastic pollution
a thing of the past. We believe it's the right thing to do for our
planet and our communities."
"Ocean Conservancy has been tracking marine debris for more than
three decades through our annual International Coastal Cleanup, and
we have seen firsthand how plastic has made its way to the top of
the list of materials polluting our beaches and waterways," said
Chever Voltmer, Plastics Initiative
Director at Ocean Conservancy. "With an estimated eight million
metric tons of plastic entering the ocean every year we need all
hands on deck to solve this problem, including the private sector.
That's why we were so eager to work with Circulate Capital and
corporate partners last year to launch an investment firm that
would invest in much-needed waste management solutions; and we are
so proud to join them in making this funding announcement."
Circulate Capital's strategy to prevent future ocean plastic
reflects a uniquely comprehensive approach that goes beyond
providing investment capital to entrepreneurs. Through The
Incubator Network by Circulate Capital and SecondMuse, announced on
September 20, 2018 at the G7 Oceans
Partnership Summit in Halifax,
Canada, Circulate Capital is also using philanthropic and
public funds and technical assistance to support and develop public
and nonprofit entities to implement new approaches and build
capacity that can support large institutional capital
commitments.
Kaplan added: "Circulate Capital's innovative strategy addresses
the critical gaps in capital needed – including investment,
philanthropic and human capital – to create an ecosystem of
innovation, investment, entrepreneurship and public-private
partnerships to solve the problem. The model relies on partnering
with local innovators who are implementing solutions on the ground
in source communities, and on incentivizing a new generation of
social entrepreneurs to build a fresh pipeline of potential
projects."
Our Ocean Conference Event Details
Circulate Capital and the Ocean Conservancy plan to host a side
event at the Our Ocean Conference on October
29th, 'Ocean Plastics: The Role of Catalytic
Capital' at 12:30pm. Rob Kaplan of Circulate Capital and Susan Ruffo, Managing Director, International
Initiatives for the Ocean Conservancy, will discuss the importance
of catalytic capital in solving the ocean plastic crisis. Expected
founding investors including PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble, Dow,
Unilever and The Coca-Cola Company are planning to attend. Mr.
Kaplan will also be joined by representatives from the Indonesian
government and an Indonesian waste-management entrepreneur, as well
as principals from SecondMuse and McKinsey.org, which are partners
in the recently launched The Incubator Network by Circulate Capital
and SecondMuse, a new initiative to accelerate solutions to ocean
plastic waste by partnering with existing incubators to build
ecosystems of waste management and recycling innovators.
About Circulate Capital
Circulate Capital is an investment management firm dedicated to
incubating and financing companies and infrastructure that prevent
ocean plastic. We focus on the prevention of mismanaged plastic
waste in countries located in South
Asia and Southeast Asia,
regions that contribute disproportionately to ocean plastic
pollution primarily because they often lack the critical waste
infrastructure to manage the problem. We were created in
collaboration with Closed Loop Partners and Ocean Conservancy, and
our founding investors are expected to include PepsiCo, the first
investor; Procter & Gamble, Dow, Danone, Unilever and The
Coca-Cola Company. We are also supported by many other leading
consumer product goods and chemical companies, intergovernmental
organizations and associations including 3M, American Chemistry Council, Kimberly-Clark,
Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of
East Asia (PEMSEA) and the World
Plastics Council.
About Ocean Conservancy
Ocean Conservancy is working to protect the ocean from today's
greatest global challenges. Together with our partners, we create
science-based solutions for a healthy ocean and the wildlife and
communities that depend on it. www.oceanconservancy.org
Media Contact:
Cindy Stoller
Confluence Partners
917-331-0418
cstoller@confluencepartners.com
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SOURCE Circulate Capital