Diversified Impact Fund
INVESTOR UPDATE | APRIL 2022
Dear investor,
We are writing to provide you with an update on the Diversified Impact Fund (DIF).
As many of you will know, this is Alex Oppes’ last week at SVA after 8 years. Alex’s contributions to the DIF, our impact investing team, and the broader organisation have been significant. His impressive acumen, genuine focus on people, and general good nature will be missed at SVA. We thank him once again.
We are delighted to share that Rebecca Parkinson has joined SVA as a Director in our Sydney office and will be leading the DIF. Rebecca is an experienced impact investor having spent over 15 years deploying blended return-seeking capital into mission-driven social enterprises across Asia. She has designed and evaluated alternative financial instruments, impact investment strategies, and outcome, measurement and monitoring frameworks. Her areas of focus have included women’s empowerment, financial inclusion, employment and food security. Prior to SVA, Rebecca created and managed four portfolios of enterprises for Impact Investment Exchange’s listed US $100m Women’s Livelihood Bond series. She also spent time with Opportunity International Australia, investing debt and equity into microfinance institutions. We are excited for the year to come as Rebecca works to deploy the fund through to the end of the investment period in December 2022.
In further news, SVA’s Executive Director Rebecca Thomas has recently commenced parental leave after welcoming her newborn son. Rebecca will be away from SVA for 9 months. In her absence, SVA’s Executive Director of Strategic Business Operations and current Acting CEO Matt Deeble will be stepping into the role to steward the team. Please reach out if you have any questions about this transition.
DIF’s Investment Committee remains largely unchanged, consisting of Rob Koczkar, Michael Lynch and Matt Deeble, supported by Independent Advisors Brigitte Smith, Sarah Buckley and Tim Johansen.
Unfortunately, the DIF team had a few promising deals in the pipeline fall over at the end of last year and early this year. This has delayed the third capital call. The DIF team remains committed to continuing to deploy capital to organisations and programs with the greatest potential to deliver social impact.
At the back end of last year SVA completed an update to its Impact Investing team strategy. We continue to work to implement this strategy, as well as drive new market opportunities for capital deployment.
Kind regards,
Matt Deeble
Acting Executive Director, Impact Investing
Social Ventures Australia
Rebecca Parkinson
Director, Impact Investing
Social Ventures Australia
Key investor information
Return of capital
As outlined below, the Fund has recently realised investments in Nightingale Ballarat and AccessAccom’s Sky Gardens project totalling approximately $1.8 million. We will be returning this capital to investors shortly.
3rd investor capital call (final 30% of total commitment)
The final call is dependent on deal flow. SVA will give investors no less than 30 days written notice of the third capital call.
Unit Price
The unit price as at 31 March 2022 was $0.6397 (unaudited), up from $0.6351 (unaudited) at 31 December 2021. Quarterly unit prices are available here.
Nightingale Ballarat completed
In exciting news for DIF, the Nightingale Ballarat development was successfully completed in March 2022. Our mezzanine construction loan of $458,015 (plus interest) was fully repaid, earning a strong return for the DIF.
Nightingale Ballarat is a development project with 27 residential apartments and 2 commercial shops. It was the first regional Nightingale project, located in Ballarat, 120km from the Melbourne CBD. It was the third Nightingale project financed by SVA.
The project has a positive environmental impact, with zero carbon emissions produced and the development achieving a +7.5-star energy rating, thereby contributing to the UN SDG of Sustainable Cities and Communities. The design has largely eliminated the need for active cooling and only requires minimal heating, significantly reducing ongoing costs for each resident in the long term.
Six of the 27 apartments were allocated to Housing Choices Australia, a not-for-profit Community Housing Provider supplying safe, quality, affordable housing to people struggling to find a rental home. Twenty of the remaining properties have been sold to Key Community Contributors, including teachers, social and youth workers and nurses.
AccessAccom’s Sky Gardens
repays loan
In other portfolio news, SVA’s mezzanine loan of $1,000,000 (plus interest) was fully repaid in April 2022, also earning a strong return for DIF.
Sky Gardens is a Special Purposes Vehicle created to acquire 11 Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) apartments located in a complex at Ryde, NSW. 10 of these apartments were modified to meet High Physical Support design category requirements while the remaining apartment is used for carers providing on-site Overnight Assistance.
The project was developed by AccessAccom, a specialised property provider focused on acquiring, developing and modifying homes to create innovative housing for people with disability.
Despite challenges presented by Covid-19 and changes to SDA policy, the AccessAccom team did a terrific job leasing out the 10 apartments to NDIS participants with SDA payments in their plans. For many of these residents, moving into these secure, spacious apartments fitted with the latest assistive technology has been lifechanging.
Fund portfolio
Got a great deal referral?
Do you know a great impact organisation that is generating revenue and ready to scale? Please let us know! Our investment criteria are:
- Ability to create meaningful social outcomes for people experiencing disadvantage in Australia
- Either at least $500,000 annualised revenue (for equity) or security available (for loans)
- Minimum investment ask of $500,000
Send your referrals to makeadif@socialventures.com.au
The information in this email is for general information purposes only and in passing it and any other material on to you Social Ventures Australia (SVA) is not providing you with any legal, tax, investment, financial or other advice. Nothing in this email should be construed or relied on as a representation, recommendation, endorsement, solicitation or offer by SVA or any third party in relation to any organisation, financial products or other investment. Before making any commitment of a legal or financial nature, you should carry out your own inquiries and seek such professional advice as you may require. SVA does not receive any remuneration or other benefit for passing on this information.
Social Ventures Australia acknowledges Traditional Owners of Country throughout Australia. We pay our respects to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders past, present, and emerging. We also accept the invitation in the Uluru Statement from the Heart to walk together with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in a movement of the Australian people for a better future.
