News

September 17, 2007

EcoSecurities Poised For Expansion Following Tie- Up With Credit Suisse

By Rue Swabey

In late June AIM-listed carbon broker, EcoSecurities, announced that Credit Suisse had agreed to take a 10 per cent equity stake. This is not the first move by an investment bank into environmental assets. Goldman Sachs owns 19 per cent of Climate Exchange and Morgan Stanley has a stake in Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project developer MGM International. Credit Suisse paid 320p a share representing an investment of £29.6 million. In July EcoSecurities raised £37.7 million from institutional investors. The combined proceeds of £67.3 million will help EcoSecurities expand into areas of rapid growth such as the US and the voluntary emission reduction (VER) market.

EcoSecurities’ core business is the global origination, implementation and commercialisation of carbon credits under the CDM,  but it also has an advisory business that provides carbon efficiency consulting and programme management services. Consulting represents only around 10 per cent of the business, but is a valuable resource as it brings in new business and provides internal support for carbon origination programmes.

The partnership with Credit Suisse gives EcoSecurities...