J.P. Morgan Asset Management revealed its new sustainability-focused growth private equity investment team to start off the week.
Tanya Barnes was hired as co-managing partner of the new team, alongside Osei Van Horne, bringing significant private market and sustainability investment experience and expertise, officials announced. Barnes had led Blackstone Group’s Blackstone Impact platform.
Prior to Blackstone, she was a managing director in the Merchant Banking Division of Goldman Sachs with a focus on direct private equity investing. Barnes spent the better part of her early career working within the Special Situations Group at Goldman, investing the firm’s proprietary capital in debt and equity transactions for distressed assets and businesses.
Also bolstering the new team is J.P. Morgan’s Senior Climate Scientist and Sustainability Strategist, Dr. Sarah Kapnick, who will serve on the team’s investment committee and will engage with portfolio companies. She has been a climate scientist with the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
J.P. Morgan said it is making one of its largest capital commitments into an alternative investment strategy with the investment of up to $150 million in the new team’s strategy.
“As one of the world’s largest asset managers, we are committed to playing a leading role in the transition to a low carbon economy and are proud to be part of a firm that has established a 10-year $2.5 trillion sustainable development target,” said George Gatch, chief executive officer, J.P. Morgan Asset Management. “We are in a unique position to leverage our global scale, data science capabilities, and the expertise of our sustainability leaders to source and invest in best-in-class companies driving the sustainable future.”
The new sustainable growth private equity team sits within J.P. Morgan Private Capital, a growth equity and private credit investment platform established to tap into the continued growth of private markets and significant pre-IPO value creation opportunities.
“Our new sustainable growth private equity team sits at the intersection of the two investing megatrends of our times – the massive opportunity and innovation required to address the sustainability transition, coupled with the ever-increasing demand from both individual and institutional investors to look beyond public markets,” said Brian Carlin, chief executive officer, J.P. Morgan Private Capital. “Tanya Barnes will add significant value to the team, and we look forward to working with her.”
