NEW YORK – 19th September , 2011 – The world’s first dedicated regulated social stock exchange for impact investments is now in place and ready for initial listings, Nexii founder and chief executive Tamzin Ractliffe announced at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) annual meeting which opened in New York today.

Nexii has successfully established, and received regulatory approval for its stage appropriate capital raising marketplaces for impact investments that provide effective solutions for investors and high impact initiatives alike.  In cooperation with the Stock Exchange of Mauritius, Nexii has received formal regulatory approval from the Financial Services Commission to establish the world’s first publically regulated impact investment stock exchange board, the iX (Impact Exchange Board), which has international recognition as a recognised investment exchange, is a member of the World Federation of Exchanges and operates in all three major global currencies (US$; GBP and Euro).

The iX provides a dedicated exchange board for listing of qualifying investment opportunities, which may be businesses, organisations, debt securities or investment funds, to raise capital for initiatives that provide a primary social or environmental product or service offering and have an intentional purpose of delivering a public good.

Nexii has also furthered its development, and received regulatory approval for, a parallel private placement Impact Capital platform (iC) with transparent registration of securities with international security identification numbers (ISINs) and dematerialized electronic clearing and settlement provided by a regulated central security depository.  Both the iX and iC are supported by the opportunity to also raise technical assistance grant or convertible grant-based capital to leverage return on investment through Nexii’s Impact Opportunities Platform (iOP).

“I’m very proud that, a year after making our commitment at CGI 2010, we can report the creation of these marketplaces which are a critical milestone in bringing visibility, transparency and accountability to the impact investment capital market,” said Nexii’s Tamzin Ractliffe.

The concept of a “social stock exchange” goes far beyond philanthropy, corporate social responsibility or socially responsible investment screening.  By contrast, Nexii’s offerings are a critical component in the development of a sustainable capital market system and represent an important step in the development of impact investment as an asset class, ensuring as much protection for the mission of high impact investments as for interested investors.  Importantly they enable the conscious allocation of capital to long-term value creation strategies that are intended to deliver blended value returns on all dimensions for a sustainable and prosperous global future.

“One of our inspirations has been the original purpose of capital markets and indeed of stock exchanges,” says Nexii’s Tamzin Ractliffe. “They were set up to make visible to potential investors the opportunity to share in wealth-creating activities by also sharing in the risk of undertaking those activities. Investments were in long-term outcomes that required considerable commitment and patience in order for returns to be realised. Today more than ever this is essential for the sustainable future of our planet and societies, and I believe the impact investing sector can help shape a wider revolution in our capital markets.”

Furthermore, says Nexii’s Tamzin Ractliffe, like any good stock exchange, the iX is not limited only to big or profitable companies. “Stock exchanges are increasingly places where companies of all sizes can come to raise capital – provided they have  good governance, are accountable and evidence  a commitment to building value through their ongoing growth and expansion.  The iX is open to all high impact initiatives that intend to deliver multiple returns—financial, social, environmental.  It is an important mechanism to grow the impact investment sector and we would encourage all CGI members who are or who have high impact investments to consider how these can be listed with Nexii to build a more visible platform that will see capital flow to impact in a much bigger way,” says Nexii’s Tamzin Ractliffe

Nexii’s analysis shows there is a huge, and growing, appetite for investment in high impact initiatives that enable investors to do good as well as do well, at both an individual and institutional level. The difficulty has been how to do this at scale and with the right kind of information and investor protection mechanisms.

“This is what the iX and iC aim to overcome. We aim to make impact investment opportunities and the information necessary to evaluate them more visible, transparent and accountable; and facilitate investor access to a responsive, dynamic impact capital market that sees more capital flowing to exceptional social and environmental investments that not only provide a financial return but also clearly measure and demonstrate their social and environmental profit.  Making sure there is protection for the mission of listed impact investments is equally important to ensure that impatience and an unsustainable short-term interest in an exclusively financial profit motive doesn’t take hold”.

To learn more about Nexii please visit www.nexii.com

To learn more about qualification and admission criteria for the iX and other Nexii marketplaces, please visit www.nexii.com/home/nexii_platforms