Sustainable Private Equity

Empowering private equity firms with ESG strategies.

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The growing climate imperative

Addressing climate concerns has become an expectation for private equity (PE) firms and their portfolio companies.

With climate change taking centre stage around the world, PE firms are subject to increasingly stringent investor and regulatory requirements, such as the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulations (SFDR), Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) guidelines, and the Data Convergence Initiative.

In addition, managers that view the climate agenda as a strategic imperative, rather than simply compliance, can build strategies that enhance long-term financial returns.

Strong climate programs must be underpinned by robust greenhouse gas data and seek to exploit decarbonisation opportunities while simultaneously mitigating climate risk. Anthesis can help you and your portfolio companies protect and create value as the climate—and society’s response—shifts rapidly.

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Case Studies

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Assessing Alignment to BBVA’s Sustainability-linked Bond Framework

The Situation Food company Borges signed a sustainable loan with BBVA Group for €15.7 million. BBVA appointed Anthesis to evaluate its sustainability commitment through the issuance of a second party opinion. This external review assesses Borges alignment to BBVA’s sustainability -linked bond framework and its over-arching objectives and strategy. Solutions Sustainable Finance & Transactions Impact…

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Setting Private Equity Net Zero Targets for Partners Group

The Situation In response to regulatory and stakeholder pressure, Partners Group sought to establish a set of credible net zero targets for its PE and Infra investment portfolios. After conducting a review of relevant target-setting methodologies, they concluded they should follow guidance of the Net Zero Investment Framework Component for Private Equity (NZIF for PE)….

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Conducting EU Taxonomy Eligibility Assessment for Prisa

The Situation Anthesis was appointed by Prisa, a Spanish media conglomerate, to conduct an eligibility assessment to determine Prisa’s alignment to the EU Taxonomy. Anthesis delivered an eligibility and alignment report which identified eligible activities from the Taxonomy Climate Delegated Act. Anthesis provided further regulatory advisory by conducting a second assessment of Prisa’s alignment to…

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Developing ESG Portfolio Program for Sherpa Capital

In early 2023 Anthesis was appointed by Sherpa Capital to develop its ESG portfolio program and support portfolio companies.

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Human Rights Training for Portfolio Companies

The Situation On behalf of a private equity firm, we designed and delivered awareness-raising training on human rights for procurement and ESG managers from their 30+ portfolio companies. Our Solutions We began by outlining the regulatory landscape on human rights due diligence before diving into practical steps to conduct it, drawing connections between the UNGPs…

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Conducting Environmental Due Diligence for a Private Equity Firm

The Situation A Private Equity firm was interested in acquiring a portfolio of more than 50 construction material manufacturing sites in the US and UK. The vast majority of these sites had a very long industrial use, many with a legacy of more than 40 years. The PE firm wanted to quickly understand the potential…

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Delivering Environmental and Social Review for a Portfolio of Investments

The Situation A public-private partnership investment fund was aiming to promote energy efficiency and renewable energies in South East Europe and neighbouring European regions outside the EU. The Fund had invested in a number of renewable energy projects, and wanted to ensure its Partner Institutions were operating both in accordance with the Fund’s internal environmental…

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Leading General Partners are raising the bar in the private equity sector by committing to science-based targets and working to lower emissions; Limited Partners are likewise making bold Net Zero commitments and are seeking to invest with managers that are proactively managing the private equity ESG issue set.

Portfolio companies are also experiencing increased expectations from customers and consumers, while capital sources are also favouring portfolio companies with differentiated climate performance to reduce ESG risk exposure.

Investment Due Diligence

Anthesis supports investors and corporates to identify risks and opportunities on acquisition, to support integration, and then to create and protect value on divestment. This can include guidance on whether an investment can be defensibly defined as an “Impact” or “Sustainable” investment, for example, in line with the EU Taxonomy.

We support mergers & acquisitions, real estate and infrastructure investments, and debt provision. Our due diligence services include ESG & EHS, Integrity, Workplace Culture, Commercial, Technical, Human Rights & Supply Chain, and Climate Change.

Credit & Debt

We help lenders and borrowers seeking to offer or raise funds through ESG or sustainability linked loans and bonds. We assist with baselining the borrowers current ESG performance, KPI (Sustainable Performance Targets) selection, and annual performance verification in line with LMA, LSTA, APLMA ,and related guidance.

For lenders, we also support the overarching ESG requirements of their funds, undertaking pre-lending due diligence, data collection & analysis (including carbon metrics), and reporting.

Fundraising & IPO Readiness

Anthesis assists investors and corporate businesses seeking to raise capital through direct private investment or IPO, to prepare to meet institutional investor expectations around ESG and sustainable investment criteria. We support clients to put in place robust ESG strategies and data to evidence performance improvement. We also assist in creating defensible narratives around the sustainable credentials of a business’ operations and services, showing eligibility and alignment with the EU Taxonomy and other frameworks where applicable.

Responsible Investment Strategies

We help Financial Institutions to review, develop, and implement ESG and Responsible Investment strategies that integrate ESG and sustainable investment criteria into their operations, services, products, and investment activities.

We assist clients to identify their material ESG aspects, regulatory obligations, and relevant voluntary frameworks, and to determine a level of ambition, leveraging peer analysis and stakeholder engagement to define the optimum approach. We then assist with implementation, building policies and systems, providing education and training, and secondment support where required.

Regulations, Data & Reporting

Anthesis supports clients to build the underlying policies and systems and make disclosures to achieve compliance with regulations, such as the EU’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulations (SFDR) and the Corporate Sustainability Disclosure Regulations (CSRD), and to meet voluntary commitments to frameworks, such as the TCFD and TNFD.

We also support engagement with ESG rankers and raters, such as MSCI and S&P, and prepare bespoke Sustainability or ESG reports and investor communications. At the heart of the process is collating and interpreting robust data, for which we can deploy our Mero software platform.

Investment Lifecycle Support

We work with investors and asset managers to enhance the ESG performance of their assets. We provide ESG education programs and help onboard investments into portfolios, implementing the client’s standard ESG requirements and identifying and supporting the implementation of broader, asset-specific ESG improvement programs.

Within this, or as separate programs, we help clients make and manage their investments consistent with a Net Zero carbon transition and manage key topics including circularity, nature, human rights & supply chain, and DEI. Throughout, we help collate robust data to evidence the improvement, meet stakeholder and regulatory requirements, and support value creation at exit.

Science Based Targets

Anthesis is proud to have supported the Science Based Target Initiative (SBTi) to develop dedicated guidance for the private equity industry. Written in partnership with an expert advisory group of over 30 private equity firms, the guidance helps private equity firms set and reach science-based targets across their operations and investments to work towards sustainable private equity.

Explore our Science Based Targets services

Investment Lifecycle Support

Through the facilitation of an industry focus group of leading practitioners, Anthesis worked with IIGCC, Ceres and other PAII member organisations to write the Private Equity Component of the Net Zero Investment Framework (NZIF). The guidance establishes a robust yet practical framework for both GPs and LPs to pursue net zero, creating a unified approach for the industry. 

Explore our Net Zero solutions