“We believe investing is not a limited act, but that business activities and our economic future are inextricable linked to the well-being of society as a whole.” – Annie Chen
Can we "do good and do well" at the same time?
Investing Through a “Values-based Lens”
By living and investing in accordance with the values we already hold, and by holding those companies we invest in to the same values, and the measuring the extent to which they comply, we can literally change the world.
Total Portfolio Management Approach
Blended Value
Impact Investing is what we do. Blended Value is what we create.
Building a Sustainable Portfolio
We seek to build a portfolio of varied asset classes and capital deployments, generating various types of returns across different segments of the portfolio. Cumulatively, these returns are projected to fulfill the financial and impact value creation potential of the capital base.
SRI
Sustainable and Responsible Investments
SRI investments take into account material environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues as well as investor preferences, in addition to traditional financial criteria. These investments are usually broader, with positive impacts that are less tangible.
TI
Targeted Impact Investments
TI investments are made with the intention to generate tangible positive social and environmental impact alongside a financial return. RS Group requires both investees and managers of impact funds to intentionally target social and environmental impact, and commit to regularly report on their contributions to impact.
SP
Strategic Philanthropy
RS Group recognizes there are areas where philanthropy is a more appropriate and effective instrument for creating impact, and look for opportunities to support philanthropic initiatives that have the potential to create systemic changes in our society to make it more sustainable.
Evolution of Our Investment Portfolio
The construction of our portfolio continues to be a work-in-progress. While we are pleased with the progress thus far, we will remain adaptive to the developments of both the industry and our portfolio performance. We will continue to fine-tune the portfolio on an ongoing basis.
1
Setting the Framework (Asset allocation, Targets and Purpose)
2
Devising a “Core & Satellite” Approach
3
Migrating Liquid Assets to Core/SRI Strategies
4
Migrating Illiquid Assets to Satellite/Target Impact Investment (TI) Strategies
5
Formalizing the Focus on Climate Change Mitigation
Current Portfolio Snapshot
(as of 30 June 2015)
By June 2015, our portfolio was 91% invested in sustainable and targeted impact (TI) strategies, taking into account investments across all asset classes.
The remaining 9% consisted of cash and legacy real assets.
Evolution of Our Grant Portfolio
The initial phase of our philanthropic journey was more opportunistic, before our formal adoption of the Total Portfolio Management Approach pushed us to examine more strategically how our grants can inform and create better synergy with other commitments in the portfolio.
Organizational Development / Capacity Building
We view supporting the whole organization rather than individual projects as long term investments in the organization, building its capacity to scale strategically, work effective, and make a bigger impact.
Programmatic Development and Implementation
By providing seed/catalytic funding, we support organizations in expanding their remit and testing out innovative ideas that can potentially have a massive impact.
Field Building
We aim to build supportive infrastructure and skillsets in the sectors within which we work, to create an environment that fosters collaboration, so we can leverage each other’s work for maximum impact.
Advocacy
We would like to inspire a paradigm shift in society’s views and priorities so we can collectively work together to drive the change necessary to shift priorities from monetary profits to value creation.
Total Portfolio Performance
We understand aggregate performance to comprise of financial returns together with positive social and environmental impacts, all of which are “rolled up” into the singular concept of Total Portfolio performance.
Investment Performance
We believe financial returns should be considered holistically, along with extra-financial returns generated, as a means to achieve impact on a Total Portfolio level.
Financial Performance
To date, the financial performance of the RS Group investment portfolio has fully met our targeted returns and expectations.
Impact Performance
We have captured the impact of our portfolio based on a variety of metric measurement frameworks that are readily available and reported by our investees on an overall portfolio level and by asset class.
Philanthropy Performance
As our philanthropic activities address a diverse set of issues the impact of which are difficult to aggregate, we believe it would be most appropriate to illustrate our philanthropic impact on a project-by-project basis, using case studies where appropriate.
Story #1 – Social Ventures Hong Kong (SVhk): Incubating Hong Kong’s Social Innovation Sector
Story #2 – Landesa: Securing Access to Land Rights for the Rural Poor
Generating Total Portfolio Impact
Under a Total Portfolio Management approach, “performance” occurs when different segments of the portfolio are managed to generate various types of returns aimed at achieving both financial and impact goals that advance RS Group’s mission.
Story #3 – Incorporating a Climate Change Lens
Story #4 – Building the Hong Kong Ecosystem
Advocacy and Knowledge Development
Understanding that social change propositions need to be backed up with facts, we have also supported efforts to provide thought leadership and knowledge development around our focus areas.
Key Insights
Over our journey RS Group has learned a great deal about the construction and management of a Total Portfolio Management Approach to investing for impact. Here are the key insights from our journey to date:
Navigating your journey amidst strategic ambiguity
Investing with intentionality and "creating" investment opportunities
Identifying value creation through a "blended" lens
Investing in ecosystems
Importance of unrestricted funding
Being creative around resource limitations
Managing a "blended" team of talents
Having the right perspective and celebrating the journey!
Impact Performance
This report details the journey taken by RS Group to build a Total Portfolio. We hope that by sharing our story, we may help empower others to embrace positive change through their own actions.
Download the full report by leaving us your details.
下载简体中文版完整报告
此报告详细叙述 RS Group 如何建立及管理我们的「全方位组合」。透过分享我们的故事，RS Group 希望鼓励更多人踏上影响力投资之旅，合力推行积极正面的变革。
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About RS Group
Founded by its principal, Annie Chen, RS Group is a mid-sized Hong Kong-based family office with a mission to create a paradigm shift in people’s values and priorities so that economic growth can sup- port, instead of jeopardize, human development and environmental sustainability.
Annie Chen
Founder and Chair
Jed Emerson
Senior Advisor
Ivo Knoepfel
Senior Advisor - Investment
Anna Wang
Senior Advisor – Philanthropy
Ronie Mak
Managing Director
Katy Yung
Investment Director
Joan Shang
Senior Associate