Doughty Hanson, one of the largest independent private equity firms in Europe, last night won the inaugural Responsible Investment Award established by the BVCA, recognising GPs who have made a notable commitment to the responsible investment agenda.
The award, presented by Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, to Doughty Hanson at the BVCA Summit in Central London yesterday, was judged independently by a panel of institutional investors. It looked specifically at how GPs have successfully integrated environmental, social and governance (ESG) good practices into their own operations and into their investing and portfolio activity.
Commenting on the award win, Stephen Marquardt, CEO of Doughty Hanson, said: “We are committed to ensuring that ESG considerations are embedded in our investment analysis and ownership practices. This enables us to create additional value for our investors and reduce the financial and reputational risks to which all our stakeholders are exposed. We are particularly proud to win this award, which is a tremendous endorsement of our approach from the institutional investor community.”
Doughty Hanson has developed customised initiatives for each of its portfolio companies to track the implementation and effectiveness of ESG initiatives, as well as to gather key ESG performance data enabling the firm to continually improve and refine its approach.
Examples of Doughty Hanson’s portfolio ESG engagement include implementing environmental efficiency within its operations, enhancing health and safety practices, improving the management and governance of ESG issues, addressing sustainability as part of product research and development and adopting more sustainable and ethical supply chain practices. More details on Doughty Hanson’s approach can be found on its website at www.doughtyhanson.com/responsible-investing
Adam Black, head of Sustainability at Doughty Hanson, said: “We place great emphasis on implementing value enhancement and sustainability throughout our core operations but also at a portfolio level, where we believe we can achieve the greatest impact. We incorporate ethical and social, environmental, health, safety and governance issues as part of our investment decision making process and we continue to actively manage these post investment and through to exit.”