Capricorn Investment Group, founded by former eBay president Jeffrey Skoll, is in discussions with a number of institutional investors after launching its socially-aware global multi-strategy fund to the Australian market.
"We have experienced strong interest from three funds and an asset consultancy here," Capricorn managing director Dillon Hale said.
Hale said nearly all interest had come from the institutional space.
"Private investment has really dried up, but it's the institutional investors that have lots of capital. They take a long-term approach to investing, which accords with our approach and the capital we currently manage," he said.
Institutional investors were drawn to the fund because of its principled approach, which focused on governance and an understanding of risk in the fund's investing program, he said.
"Our investment consideration process for all investing always includes analysis and investigation of governance, environmental, sustainability, social and policy factors in an integrated manner," he said.
"We are generating outperformance and alpha by investing positively while being highly commercial."
Another factor in the fund's appeal was its dynamic asset allocation, while maintaining a long-term focus, he said.
"The allocation currently has opportunistic and defensive positioning in the short term, 18-24 months, while also focusing on the long term, seven years-plus. The allocation also focused on secular trends that relate to big challenges the world faces over the long term," he said.
The fund is currently looking to ramp up its already strong emphasis on Asia.
"We think that in the shorter term a number of investment opportunities that we are interested in will be attractively priced for investment in Asia to supplement our existing investments across the region," Hale said.
"We have Asia as a separate asset class to ensure a focus and discipline around a long-term opportunity and theme."
Capricorn Investment Group, based in Palo Alto, California, has $6 billion in funds under management.
