August 14, 2018 – Brunswick, Maine —Coastal Enterprises, Inc. (CEI) announced today that it has received strong ratings for its fund management from Aeris, the independent rating and information service for community investment funds. CEI received a four-star impact management rating with Policy Plus and AA- financial strength and performance rating. Aeris provides comprehensive assessments of a community investment fund’s financial strength, performance and impact management.

“Our four-star, policy plus, AA- Aeris rating confirms that CEI is a high quality channel for mission-driven investing that makes a difference in communities,” said Betsy Biemann, CEI’s CEO. “As a fund manager, we target our investments to balance risk, return, and liquidity while growing good jobs, environmentally sustainable enterprises, and more broadly shared prosperity.”

A wide range of investors—including banks, foundations, fund managers, and others—rely on Aeris ratings to identify and evaluate community investment opportunities that meet their impact goals and risk parameters. Aeris has issued more than 600 ratings opinions since 2004.

The rigorous Aeris rating process is a demonstration of a fund’s commitment to transparency and accountability, with regard to its financial performance and impact in the community. The rating encompasses two main components: (1) an Impact Management Rating, which measures the commitment of the fund’s management to achieving impact; (2) a Financial Strength and Performance Rating, which assesses overall creditworthiness.

Rating Definitions

Four-star: clear alignment of mission, strategies, activities, and data that guide programs and planning, and effective use of resources to benefit people and communities with low incomes and achieve positive impacts related to its mission.

Policy plus: leadership role in initiatives to change government policy to benefit the community development finance industry or disadvantaged people and communities.

AA-: very strong financial strength, performance and risk management practices relative to its size, complexity, and risk profile.

More information is available at: http://www.aerisinsight.com/who/about-aeris-ratings/.

As an Aeris-rated institution, CEI is also included in the Aeris Cloud, the only source of real-time financial and impact performance data on community investment funds. The Aeris Cloud was created to give investors access to Wall Street-quality data on community investment funds such as CEI.

About CEI

Coastal Enterprises, Inc. (CEI) helps to grow good jobs, environmentally sustainable enterprises, and shared prosperity in Maine and in rural regions across the country by integrating financing, business and industry expertise, and policy solutions. CEI envisions a world in which communities are economically and environmentally healthy, enabling all people, especially those with low incomes, to reach their full potential. More at www.ceimaine.org.

About Aeris

Aeris guides capital to good. Since 2004, the nation’s leading community investors have used Aeris’ data and ratings to support their community investing. Aeris’ clients range from large financial institutions with Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) obligations, mission-driven charitable foundations, government, private wealth managers, and more. Its proprietary ratings help investors evaluate opportunities that meet their impact goals and risk parameters. Learn more at www.aerisinsight.com.