Nuveen Launches the Industry's First Impact Investing-Focused Closed-End Fund

Rhea-AI Summary

Nuveen has launched the Nuveen Core Plus Impact Fund (NYSE: NPCT) with an initial public offering raising $575 million, potentially reaching $661 million with underwriters' options. The fund aims for total returns through high income and capital appreciation by investing in fixed-income across social and environmental themes, focusing on ESG leadership. Managing over $15 billion in ESG assets, Nuveen addresses growing investor demand for responsible investment opportunities.

Positive

• Successfully raised $575 million in IPO, potentially $661 million.
• Targets total return through diversified fixed income in ESG themes.
• Innovative focus as the industry's first impact investing closed-end fund.

Negative

• Investment criteria may limit market opportunities, risking underperformance.
• Default risk associated with debt instruments could reduce income.

NEW YORK, April 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Nuveen, the global investment manager of TIAA, has successfully completed the initial public offering of the Nuveen Core Plus Impact Fund (NYSE: NPCT). The closed-end fund will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) today, under the symbol NPCT.

The fund raised $575 million in its common share offering, excluding any exercise of the underwriters' option to purchase additional shares. If the underwriters exercise that option in full, the fund will have raised approximately $661 million.

The fund seeks to deliver total return through high current income and capital appreciation, by investing in a diversified portfolio of fixed-income investments across four social and environmental themes (Affordable Housing, Community and Economic Development, Renewable Energy and Climate Change, and Natural Resources) or in issuers that demonstrate environmental, social and governance (ESG) leadership.

The fund strategy deploys Nuveen's proprietary Public Markets Impact Framework to identify opportunities to generate measurable positive social and environmental impact, as well as its ESG criteria, while also delivering competitive financial return. A portion of the fund's AUM will be dedicated to impact investing opportunities, including investments that provide exposure to issuers and/or individual projects with direct and measurable social and/or environmental benefits. The remaining portion of the fund will be dedicated to ESG investments, providing exposure to issuers with leading ESG practices relative to industry peers. All investments in the fund are evaluated using Nuveen's relative value framework in order to deliver competitive financial returns.

"At Nuveen, we have a long history of not only pioneering responsible investing but also delivering income solutions," said Dave Lamb, Head of Closed-End Funds at Nuveen. "We are proud to bring these together, while building on our heritage of innovation in closed-end fund strategies, to launch the Nuveen Core Plus Impact Fund, the industry's first responsible investing closed-end fund."

With over $15 billion in assets under management, Nuveen is one of the largest investors in ESG and impact fixed income. The firm also has approximately $39 billion in responsible investing strategies across public and private markets and over five decades of experience in the responsible investing space.

"Recent demand for opportunities aligned with investors' values has been met with a surge of green, social and sustainable bonds, and increased awareness of the environmental and social benefits that can accompany competitive financial returns. This has propelled the growth of the impact bond market." said Stephen M. Liberatore, CFA, Lead Portfolio Manager for Fixed Income ESG and Impact Investments at Nuveen. "We're proud to offer investors a unique opportunity to express their values and market views through a closed-end fund, which continues our strong tradition of providing a variety of dedicated responsible investing fixed-income options to investors."

Shares of closed-end investment companies, like the fund, usually trade on a national stock exchange. Similar to stocks, the fund's share price will fluctuate with market conditions and, at the time of sale, may be worth more or less than the original investment. Shares of closed-end funds often trade at a discount to their net asset value.

For more information, please visit Nuveen's CEF homepage www.nuveen.com/closed-end-funds or contact:

Financial Professionals
800-752-8700

Investors
800-257-8787

Media
media-inquiries@nuveen.com

About Nuveen

Nuveen, the investment manager of TIAA, offers a comprehensive range of outcome-focused investment solutions designed to secure the long-term financial goals of institutional and individual investors. Nuveen has $1.2 trillion in assets under management as of 31 March 2021 and operations in 27 countries. Its investment specialists offer deep expertise across a comprehensive range of traditional and alternative investments through a wide array of vehicles and customized strategies. For more information, please visit www.nuveen.com.

Nuveen Securities, LLC, member FINRA and SIPC.

The information contained on the Nuveen website is not a part of this press release.

Investors should consider the investment objective and policies, risk considerations, charges and expenses of the fund carefully before investing. For a prospectus which contains this and other information relevant to an investment in the fund, please contact your securities representative or Nuveen Securities, LLC, 333 W. Wacker Drive, Chicago, IL 60606. Investors should read the prospectus carefully before they invest or send money. This document is not an offer to sell securities and is not soliciting an offer to buy securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted.

Key Risk Considerations:

Impact Criteria and ESG Criteria Investing Risk. Because the fund's impact criteria and/or Nuveen's ESG investment criteria may exclude investments of certain issuers for non-financial reasons, the Fund may forgo some market opportunities available to funds that do not use these criteria. This may cause the Fund to underperform the market as a whole or other funds that do not use an impact criteria or ESG investment strategy or that use a different methodology or different factors to determine an investment's impact and/or ESG investment criteria. In addition, there is a risk that the companies identified by the impact criteria or Nuveen's ESG investment criteria do not operate as expected when addressing social and environmental impact and ESG issues. A company's social and environmental impact and ESG performance or Nuveen Asset Management's assessment of a company's social and environmental impact and ESG performance could vary over time, which could cause the Fund to be temporarily invested in companies that do not comply with the Fund's approach towards considering the fund's impact criteria or ESG investment criteria.

Debt Securities Risk. Issuers of debt instruments in which the fund may invest may default on their obligations to pay principal or interest when due. This non-payment would result in a reduction of income to the fund, a reduction in the value of a debt instrument experiencing non-payment and, potentially, a decrease in the net asset value of the fund. There can be no assurance that liquidation of collateral would satisfy the issuer's obligation in the event of non-payment of scheduled interest or principal or that such collateral could be readily liquidated. In the event of bankruptcy of an issuer, the fund could experience delays or limitations with respect to its ability to realize the benefits of any collateral securing a security. To the extent that the credit rating assigned to a security in the fund's portfolio is downgraded, the market price and liquidity of such security may be adversely affected.

Below Investment Grade Risk. Investments of below investment grade quality are regarded as having speculative characteristics with respect to the issuer's capacity to pay interest and repay principal, and may be subject to higher price volatility and default risk than investment grade investments of comparable terms and duration. Issuers of lower grade investments may be highly leveraged and may not have available to them more traditional methods of financing. The prices of these lower grade investments are typically more sensitive to negative developments, such as a decline in the issuer's revenues or a general economic downturn. The secondary market for lower rated investments may not be as liquid as the secondary market for more highly rated investments, a factor which may have an adverse effect on the fund's ability to dispose of a particular investment. If a below investment grade investment goes into default, or its issuer enters bankruptcy, it might be difficult to sell that investment in a timely manner at a reasonable price.

Foreign/Emerging Markets Issuer Risk. Investments in foreign issuers involve special risks not presented by investments in U.S. issuers, including the following: (1) less publicly available information about foreign issuers or markets due to less rigorous disclosure or accounting standards or regulatory practices; (2) many foreign markets are smaller, less liquid and more volatile; (3) potential adverse effects of fluctuations in currency exchange rates or controls on the value of the fund's investments; (4) the economies of foreign countries may grow at slower rates than expected or may experience a downturn or recession; (5) the impact of economic, political, social or diplomatic events; (6) possible seizure of a company's assets; (7) restrictions imposed by foreign countries limiting the ability of foreign issuers to make payments of principal and/or interest due to blockages of foreign currency exchanges or otherwise and (8) withholding and other foreign taxes may decrease the fund's return. These risks are more pronounced to the extent that the fund invests in issuers in emerging market countries.

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SOURCE Nuveen

FAQ

What is the investment strategy of the Nuveen Core Plus Impact Fund (NPCT)?

The Nuveen Core Plus Impact Fund focuses on total returns through high current income and capital appreciation by investing in fixed-income across social and environmental themes.

How much capital did the Nuveen Core Plus Impact Fund raise in its IPO?

The fund raised $575 million in its IPO, potentially increasing to $661 million with underwriters' options.

What are the risks associated with the Nuveen Core Plus Impact Fund?

The fund faces risks related to its investment criteria limiting market opportunities and potential defaults on debt securities.

When did the Nuveen Core Plus Impact Fund start trading?

The Nuveen Core Plus Impact Fund began trading on the NYSE on April 28, 2021.

What themes does the Nuveen Core Plus Impact Fund focus on?

The fund focuses on four themes: Affordable Housing, Community and Economic Development, Renewable Energy and Climate Change, and Natural Resources.