Newcore becomes top-scoring real assets B Corp

British manager Newcore Capital has achieved the highest score of any real assets fund manager in the B Corp assessment.

The firm scored 164.6 out of 200 in its latest assessment, according to a statement seen by New Private Markets and due to be released later on Monday. The score represents a 57-point increase from when the firm first obtained certification at 112.6 in 2020.

B Corp status is an independently verified certification of a company’s sustainability credentials. It is administered by US non-profit B Labs, which measures the impact of companies’ operations on the “environment, communities, customers, suppliers, employees and shareholders” using its B Impact Assessment Tool.

The certification has been conferred on several private markets firms including Astanor Ventures, Verdane, TowerBrook Capital Partners, Helios Investment Partners, Summa Equity, Atomico, Ambienta and Abris Capital Partners. Companies are re-evaluated every three years.

Newcore says it is now the highest-scoring real assets fund manager, the third-highest scoring company in the UK, and the fourth-highest scoring financial services business worldwide. British impact manager Future Business Partnership, with a score of 174, claims to be the highest scoring UK business, and the highest of any PE manager in the world focused on developed markets.

Newcore’s increased score is in part due to its developing approach to environmental issues, founder and CEO Hugo Llewelyn told NPM. “I think, in relation to the environmental part of our score, we improved because back in 2019/20 we were working instinctively and had not then formulated the well-honed environmental policy and execution for our assets and our funds that we have today. The industry has come on in leaps and bounds since that time.”

The firm also updated its constitution, said Llewelyn: “One thing that we had already committed to [in] 2019 but hadn’t inked in at that stage was the formal change to our constitution that B Corps commit to, so that we are legally obliged as a business to take a balanced approach to all our stakeholders (whereas a typical UK company or LLP is legally constituted solely for the benefit of its shareholders). But I have this view that your shareholders do a lot better long-term if you look after everyone else first.”

Newcore, which focuses exclusively on social infrastructure assets in the UK, reached a final close on £190 million ($236 million; €219 million) for Newcore Strategic Situations V in May last year.