The winners of the BVCA Responsible Investment Awards 2017 were announced yesterday at the BVCA Summit in London as we celebrated the outstanding Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance practices within the private equity and venture capital community.
Sponsored by Ramboll Environ and with Responsible Investor as our media partner, the awards are now in their seventh year and all the winners (listed below) are fantastic examples of how private equity and venture capital firms are leading the way in responsible investing. This year we introduced a new category, Responsible Portfolio Company, to recognise companies who are demonstrating progress in embedding the management of ESG issues in their commercial activity.
Alongside the awards presentation, we also launched an online version of our Responsible Investment Guide on our website. The new Responsible Investment Toolkit aims to offer practical advice throughout the investment life-cycle, from due diligence through to exit, accompanied by a number of case studies to demonstrate good practice, including those of previous winners of the awards.
The winners of the BVCA Responsible Investment Awards 2017 are:
Outstanding Individual Contribution
Winner: Marta Jankovic, APG Asset Management, and Chair, Invest Europe
Judges’ comment: “Marta was recognised as a leader and expert in the ESG space, and as a highly influential voice in the industry with a wide and visible impact. The judges believe this is exemplified by Marta announcing that one of her goals as Invest Europe Chair is to promote responsible investment best practice and engage with GPs on climate change.”
Overall ESG Framework
- firms with less than £1bn under management
Winner: ETF Partners
Judges’ comment: “ETF was one of a number of GPs in the impact space that had entered, which was great to see. ETF stood out due to its strong sustainability framework, which is embedded in the firm’s investment activities with good examples of strong ESG impact.”
ESG Engagement with Portfolio Companies
- firms with less than £1bn under management
Winner: Lyceum Capital
Judges’ comment: “Lyceum illustrated the opportunities seen in considering ESG at every stage of the investment cycle, with it playing a core role in the ongoing management across all of its portfolio and its culture.”
Overall ESG Framework
- firms with more than £1bn under management
Joint winners: Ardian and Church Commissioners for England
Judges’ comment: “This year we have joint winners, as unusually, the judges struggled to decide between both the eventual winners, fully appreciating the difference in approach between a GP and pure LP. The judges were impressed by Ardian’s significant framework that reaches out throughout their own and their investees’ structures. Similarly, the judges commended the Church Commissioners’ detailed methodology when considering ESG in its investment analysis and decision-making. Both provide excellent examples of best practice for GPs and LPs.”
ESG Engagement with Portfolio Companies
- firms with more than £1bn under management
Winner: Ardian
Judges’ comment: “The judges unanimously agreed on Ardian as winner of this category, with their submission illustrating the strong engagement with investees and the sustainability results generated as a result. The judges were particularly impressed by the strong buy-in across Ardian’s leadership.”
Responsible Portfolio Company
Winner: Frontier Medical Group
Judges’ comment: “The judges agreed that Frontier was a fantastic example of a company that considers ESG across its business, implementing initiatives throughout its commercial activity and an excellent case-study of how companies should integrate ESG in practice.”
Jeremy Lytle, Investor Relations Partner, ECI, and Chair, BVCA's Responsible Investment Committee, said:
“This has been an exceptional year for private equity and venture capital in demonstrating its pioneering approach to ESG and all of the winners of the BVCA Responsible Investment Awards deserve to be proud of their achievements.
The awards were launched in 2011 and what has been striking over the years is how firmly embedded ESG practices have become at so many firms to the extent that it is now, with increasing frequency, a core component of their investment strategy and portfolio management. By also launching our new Responsible Investment Toolkit on the BVCA website, we hope to encourage even more firms to embrace ESG policies.
Congratulations to all of the winners for their efforts. A special mention to Marta Jankovic for her leadership of the ESG agenda both here and in Europe, and also to the inaugural winners of the Responsible Portfolio Company award, Frontier Medical Group.
“The quality of submissions remains excellent, and we were particularly heartened by the increasing number of LPs and smaller GPs putting themselves forward. These awards are an excellent platform to showcase leadership in responsible investment and, as ever, we would strongly encourage everyone with a good story to tell to enter the 2018 awards.”
For further information, please contact
Tom Allchorne, Director, Communications, BVCA
+44 (0)20 7492 0407
tallchorne@bvca.co.uk
Notes to editor
- The BVCA Responsible Investment Awards, sponsored by Ramboll Environ with Responsible Investor as media partner, are Europe’s only awards which recognise and celebrate outstanding Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) practices within private equity and venture capital.
- For details on the award categories and the judging criteria, as well as previous winners, please click here.
- Selected by open nomination, the winners are chosen by an independent judging panel composed of: Adam Black, Coller Capital; Phil Case, PwC; Alison Hampton, formerly HgCapital; Patricia Hamzahee, Integriti Capital; Jonathan Ord, Local Pensions Partnership; Hugh Wheelan, Responsible Investor; and David Williamson, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
- The British Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (BVCA) is the industry body for the UK private equity and venture capital industry. The BVCA has over 650 member firms, representing the vast majority of UK-based private equity and venture capital firms, institutional investors and the advisory community.