European Green Investment Market Set to Exceed 500 Billion Euro

LONDON--(Business Wire)--
The European green investment market is on an upswing, thanks
largely to increasing awareness and support for the environment,
availability of green funds and favourable regulations. Huge
investments are being made in green product and technology development
in areas of alternate energy systems, environmental building
technologies and so on. This has led to financial engineering in this
space and the advent of green financial products such as carbon
credits, green/sustainable mortgage-backed securities, green hedge
funds and social responsibility investment funds.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan
(http://www.financialservices.frost.com), European Green Investment
Market - Investment Analysis, reveals that the European green
investments market is expected to grow at around 18 per cent between
2007 and 2014. The Green Investment market increased by about 20
percent, from EUR 150 billion in 2006 to EUR 180.40 billion in 2007.
It is further estimated that by 2014, the market will grow at a
compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18 percent to reach EUR 572.9
billion by 2014. Equity funds are expected to constitute the highest
growing segment, with a CAGR of 18.6 percent, followed by balanced
funds with a growth of 16.8 percent from 2007 to 2014.

"Global warming and world climate change are fuelling the growth
of the green investments market, which has tremendous profit potential
and is expected to mature in the years to come," note Frost & Sullivan
Financial Analysts Kirti Timmanagoudar and Kavitha Chakravarthy.
"Regulatory support and public demand for green investments has led to
the creation of an array of green investment alternatives such as
green mutual funds, green hedge funds and green exchange traded
funds."

Governments are offering subsidies and tax relief and encouraging
companies to go green. The carbon credit system is the most notable of
them. In the future, one can expect governments laying down strict
environmental standards, which need to be met by all companies.
Additionally, pension funds are directing their money towards
investments that are socially responsible.

"A regulation is expected soon wherein pension funds have to
invest at least a proportion of their assets in social responsibility
investments," says Chakravarthy. "This is expected to further propel
the growth of the green investments market."

However, there is a lot of hype around green investing and no one
wants to miss out on the green wave. This is leading to a risk of hot
money flowing into the green investments market and overheating it.

"Too much of money flowing into the green investment market can
artificially inflate the prices of the green stocks," opines
Timmanagoudar. "This could result in a green bubble burst, which can
further lead to huge market losses and capital erosion."

Overall, the European green investments market will yield above
average returns in the medium term. The social responsibility
investment funds have been yielding windfall gains and are expected to
grow at above the market rate in the near future. Green investors
should invest systematically and avoid putting all their money in the
market at once. Their investment decision should be backed by strong
research and they should be careful not to be carried away by the
green tag used by the marketers.

If you are interested in a virtual brochure, which provides
manufacturers, end users and other industry participants with an
overview of the investment analysis and growth opportunities in the
European green investment market, then send an e-mail to Chiara
Carella, Corporate Communications, at chiara.carella@frost.com, with
your full name, company name, title, telephone number, company e-mail
address, company website, city, state and country. Upon receipt of the
above information, an overview will be sent to you by e-mail.

European Green Investment Market - Investment Analysis is part of
the Financial Benchmarking in the Asset Management Industry programme,
which also includes research services in the following markets: Asset
Management Industries in India, China and Brazil, Lifecycle Funds and
Active extension investment strategies in the US. All research
services included in subscriptions provide detailed market
opportunities and industry trends that have been evaluated following
extensive interviews with market participants. Interviews with the
press are available.

Frost & Sullivan's Business and Financial Services group serves
clients around the world in all aspects of financial analysis, market
research and monitoring, due diligence, idea generation, opportunity
analysis, investment valuation, and other proprietary research.

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, partners with
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Partnerships, visit http://www.frost.com.

European Green Investment Market - Investment Analysis

N2F6

Frost & Sullivan
Corporate Communications - Europe
Chiara Carella, +44 (0) 20 7343 8314
chiara.carella@frost.com
or
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Patrick Cairns, +27 18 468 2315
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or
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