Fuelling the Future: Funding Focus

[Music] so we have been super busy this morning talking about so many things and one of them Yan I wanted to start with you really was impact investing seen a lot of focus on that and it's a big strong emphasis for your company but talk us through your approach it's deemed to be rigorous but what does that look like well for those of you that's been around uh on the impact investing panel earlier today is essentially fre words uh it's internationally and its additionality and measurability so uh we only and restrict ourselves only to invest in companies that is actually contributing to people's daily life to the society or the planet and that's the only kind of investment we do U and of course there need to be a funding need for that so we have to have a personality in the sense that it's a sector that actually need money and can make a difference and we need to measure that difference and it got to be significant for the deficits that we have in society so that's what we do and of course uh I think that the success of impact investing comes down to us making more money than traditional investment houses and of course my thinking on impact investing is utilizing all the knowledge that we have in the private Equity industry in particular particular I spent 25 years with e as part of starting that group and utilizing that and then actually doing uh impact as an additional value creation tool and that's what we're trying to do at real impact so I'm going to come to Edward in a second but I just want to follow up to set the scene for Edwards so um where is most of the money going what what is attracting investors attention well I I think that more and more investors are currently dedicating to impactful programs and Mission driven investing uh it's still a tiny industry in the sense that back at ekt we raised 30 billion a year I think the intent is to raise 100 billion over the next two years uh when I raised Trill impact the first impact fund was 900 million which was then the biggest small independent fund so it's perhaps half a percentage point of the capital that's actually being driven toward Mission driving capital and I think that that will be a huge difference in the future because the fre yearolds of today will not accept that we deploy Capital that doesn't contribute to their grandchild's future and Clos my 60 plus age typically don't think this way so the good news for the impact investing industry that we have the underlying Trend with us in the Young Generation and demographics is one thing we know and predictability inves of course key so we know that there will be an increased Trend but the entire success of the interpr depend on the fact that the great deal make great dealmakers move over to impactful investing because I don't believe that people that spent their entire life and ngos can suddenly start making a lot of money for investors and it's all about if we're going to get huge parts of private capital on this journey we need to make money for investors so that that's I think have to be the focus yeah and and I thought we' kind of got over that idea that profit was on one hand and and and sustainability was on another and and yet it seems to be in a in an una awkward balance sometimes doesn't it in terms of certain industries um talking of Industries Ed would want to bring you in on this because of course you've been investing very heavily in the key areas that we talked about there in the title um electric vehicles uh we're very fond of them here and we have a very good Network in the UA to charge charge our phones but it's a rapidly gr sector um how do you think Financial communities can support the necessary infrastructure in various jurisdictions to to continue the growth in this sector yeah I think uh if you look at the last 100 years there's a three major shift uh from the energy demand side from the fixed demand like a residential commercial or industry now become a mobile like a electronic vehicle is a one of the major driver from the demand side on the supply side uh before is like a more carbon based energy like a natural gas oil all the things now it's like a silicon uh like a solar uh like a leum battery you know so the on the demand side and supply side I have a fundamental change on the uh transaction side before is a traditional uh demand and Supply by the utility company now it's like a virtual PowerPoint or there's a crypto exchange so if you look at the in the last 100 years demand Supply and also transaction all have a fundamental shift the electronic vehicle is one of the key driver from demand side uh neg as a company focusing on the Next Generation technology we invest for example Lucid Lucid is when they in big trouble uh we become a major strategic partner with them and then we working together with the PF and then we raise $4.5 billion to turn the company from almost bankrupt become like a nearly hundred billion dollar before and now they have launching luxury car and sports cars and also we also invest some like a low end uh for example we are developing a new solar car is only $88,000 it's going to be the massive demand from the uh mobile side so the electronic vehicle is one of the uh our major Focus for the me yeah yeah I look forward to seeing that solar car I always get deeply excited about that one so you let us know when that one's uh when that one's available I wanted to stick with solar energy because of course again in this region very much focused for obvious reasons with with the the climate that we have on solar energy but you're one of the largest um solar companies in the US as well so obviously you're very excited about this industry let's talk about the challenges though we know we know the benefits and the challenges around energy storage grid integration land use how are they being addressed and how are you finding investors Keen to help address those issues yeah um as you probably see the press release uh one month ago uh our company chairman tier Roger and I'm the major shareholder as well uh we take over the largest uh top tier uh solar player uh player sun power in the US and and after we do the merder exibitions we try to consult soled the company from traditional uh residential solar supplier become a solar supplier and plus some new technologies and our idea is to combining the residential electronic vehicle and also the uh commercial all in one place so if once we make the integration then we building from the access level and become a future uh what call a virtual part power plant this is a Next Generation and on the top will be the crypto exchange so all the thing is is going to happen in next five or 10 years so we we're thinking about now is a time uh probably the one of the biggest dramatic change in the uh in the uh sustainable uh value value CH in in the last 100 years yeah and I wanted to pick up on that because you said a massive change when you paint that picture of the future indeed it looks like something that we're only just beginning to imagine and even though we've talked Jan a lot about financing structures this morning and of course there's Innovation and things that move forward traditional financing structures are going to change need to change dramatically to keep up uh with the pace of innovation in areas such as the one Edward talked about that so how do you see the speed and the evolution of financial investment products to keep up with all of that well infrastructure investing of course is different than others in the sense it needs policy it needs State support and it need predictability because it's such in its definition so longterm has it I I think there is a challenge here in the sense that I I just came in from Stockholm where I'm based and of course we had a noble ceremony we given there and I I had the pl sit down with with sort of the Nobel Prize winner in in chemistry sir Demis hassabis and of course he is also the CEO of Google deepmind and of course he is telling me that computers now are more creative them people he actually created a system that actually broke go and they did such incredible moves so that even the commentators thought that there was a mistake and of course with the power that we now have with AI this will be incredibly unpredictable and over the next 15 years I do believe that the best of investment opportunities will be where you can actually utilize AI every version now is increasing 10 times of course if you listen to the Nobel Prize they say there's even a 20% risk that the computers will essentially take over and take us out I I'm I'm an optimist so I have to believe that the world will be better and we can actually make money on this and we'll be able to control it but here I actually think that the best investment opportunities are so probably not in any audience not the best thing to say I know we we're tracking a lot of capital to climate which is where institutions are now deploying lot of capital which it's great and we need it I actually personally think the best investment opportunity is or in biotech because with what the science can do we can now come up and predict drugs pretty rapidly and we will be able to get them out and if you have a device attached to your skin or even under your skin telling you you'll have a heart attack in a few hours or so I would be prepared to pay a lot for that it's already coming I mean this this is a huge part this is a huge part of the infrastructure in society so I do think it's a completely bombed out sector so I think investing in that sector with a scientific advantages we're going to have is going to be unfortunately that's not my focus and probably not yours either but I do believe all these investment Into Climate with the regulatory unpredictability I hope we're going to get the great return but there is no Market no matter how strong that can't be destroyed too much capital I kind of want to be optimistic and slightly greedy and OB greedy isn't normally seen as a good thing but I I would imagine that you can have I know it's an infinite resource but you can have that investment side by side because we are seeing that investment in biotech and of course we need it in climate Tech as well um so anyway the jury's out there's going to be some experts to see us if we can have both because to drive us forward we need both yeah absolutely and um talking about being creative and and finance and finding these alternative ways uh Ed I want to bring you back in on hydrogen because obviously that's been a big Center again not just in this region but globally um and and we've seen big strides forward but still we want more of course and and achieving that Global adoption rate where are you on that you said to me earlier when we were in The Green Room we need to be more creative what did you mean by that yeah we also invest some hydrogen uh company uh in the GCC area and also in salak Val we tried to invest another companies invented by Stanford professors to the Nico hydrogen this is uh another Next Generation technology we this technology already uh been proved by the Apollo uh Moon uh uh plan and also we have a major client from Saudi uh Aro try to using this as a a scalable storage company so I think hydrogen is could be one of the uh uh another uh energy based as I said at the beginning on the supp high side before is a carbon based energy now become a solar based like a silicon and the lithum based like a electronic vehicle and hydrogen and maybe ni niik hydrogen so th those are the you can see the big thing happen I think uh hydrogen have a natural Advantage uh no heat and also uh low cost and also scalable so we we are just uh you know become a Pioneer for that as well so we've got two minutes uh left and I'm in charge of throwing myself off the stage so I'm going to give you a minute each if we look ahead for three to five years uh starting with you Yan what do you think uh is going to be the most promising sector for infrastructure investment well as we heard earlier I think with the new Trump Administration there will be a change of policy it which will be quite difficult to predict frankly and I think we'll also create a backdrop on some of the sustainable Investments for the next four years that said we all know it's going to be electricity it's going to be a deficit the grids need to be upgraded that I would say is a safe bet the pricing of wind and solar versus the drill baby drill policy at Trump I think that is more unpredictable so risk adjusted I will go for the grids because we will need that for sure and and we all know that with all the EVS coming in we don't have charging station or grids being able to handle it so there you will let at least make a safe return in infrastructure space I think 3 years ago uh when I in UAE I think there are so many crypto companies so many Bitcoin companies so UAE become the capital of the crypto and this trip uh in Abu Dhabi I think is a very strong message become a capital of the capital so I hope in three years from now um because we have been uh very actively invest in the Next Generation unicorn in San valy and in The Last 5 Years our fund have a very high return average about five to 10 times so I really like to looking for the opportunities that I can find a local partner here and we can try to shift all those Technologies into the ababi and uh our philosophy is three comp uh three impact one is the economic impact we have have to deliver High return for investor and also have a social impact which is uh you know to create more job more technology and also have a environmental impact so we we are to invest in the three impact combined together so I hope in three years from now we really can find a good partner here and shift the gravity of the Next Generation technology into the of that and as Emanuel gianakis said become the capital of green Capital to uh fit in with your uh uh dream of the next three years time so gentlemen thank you so much perfect zero on the clock your professionals and we very much appreciate your look ahead thank you [Music]