Blue Haven Initiative Backs First Global Health Fund
Our client Blue Haven Initiative joins a pioneering group of investors to finance the world’s first social impact health fund. Blue Dot Advocates represented Blue Haven in the transaction.
Structured by JPMorgan Chase & Co. and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Global Health Investment Fund gives individual and institutional investors the opportunity to help to bring about significant improvements in the treatment and prevention of disease, family planning and reduce infant mortality rates in low-income countries, along with the prospect of a net financial return.
With $94 million committed to date, Blue Haven is joined by the Grand Challenges Canada, the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, The Pfizer Foundation, Storebrand and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation. The fund will help advance the most promising interventions to fight malaria, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and other diseases around out the world.
London-based LHGP Asset Management will be responsible for originating, managing and exiting GHIF portfolio investments. To help mitigate the risk of investing in the clinical development of new technologies, the Gates Foundation and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency have committed to partially offset potential losses in the fund, which will seek a financial return for investors by targeting high-impact technologies with public health applications in both developed and emerging markets.
“The Global Health Investment Fund demonstrates the potential for innovative collaborations and thoughtful financial structures to mobilize new sources of capital for social challenges,” said Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co. “This product brings a diverse group of investors together around the shared objective of developing life-saving technologies in a financially sustainable way.”
Private sector financing for global health research and development is more important than ever. Philanthropy, government funding and pharmaceutical industry support have built a remarkable pipeline of global health innovations—with as many as 200 new products currently under development—but late-stage clinical trials are costly and development expenses are outpacing charitable support.
