UK’s Co-operative raises stake in cleantech fund

The Co-operative Insurance Society, the insurance arm of the UK’s mutually owned £70bn (€84bn) Co-operative Group, has raised its stake in environmental/cleantech fund Ludgate Environmental to almost 14% following a recent share issue.

The Ludgate Environmental Fund (LEF) said in a regulatory release that the Co-operative now holds 7,568,308 ordinary shares or 13.45% of its share capital, up from 12% in December.

The disclosure follows a £9.8m a share placing by Ludgate earlier this month.

The Co-operative Bank has had an ethical policy since 1992 and earlier this year Co-operative Financial Services won the Financial Times’ Sustainable Bank of the Year award.LEF was launched in 2007 focusing on environmental and cleantech companies.
Last week it reported that its net asset value per share had fallen to 98.8p in the first half of the year – equivalent to a 4.9% decrease per share.

In July LEF removed its investment manager, Ludgate Fund Management (Environmental) (Jersey) Ltd. – saying that investment decisions would be based on advice from Ludgate Investments Ltd.

Douglas Maccabe and Helen Grant would be stepping down from the board, to be replaced by Donald Adamson and David Pirouet.

Adamson is Chairman of the Offshore Committee of the Association of Investment Companies while Pirouet was formerly with PricewaterhouseCoopers.