$470 Million Cancer Fund Called Largest Impact Investment

The UBS Group announced Wednesday that it has raised $471 million for a fund that will finance development of new cancer treatments, The Wall Street Journal reports. The Switzerland-based global bank said the Oncology Impact Fund represented the most ever raised for an impact investment, in which participants seek both financial returns and social outcomes.

UBS said the fund will make 10 to 20 investments over the next five years and a portion of its proceeds from fees and royalties on resulting cancer drugs will go to the bank’s Optimus Fund, which supports programs for children in developing countries. Jürg Zeltner, head of the company’s wealth-management division, termed the oncology fund “a milestone for our work in sustainable investing and for the impact-investing industry as a whole.”