BVCA recognises leading firms across private capital for Excellence in ESG
Outstanding contributions to ESG across private equity and venture capital were recognised last week at Summit 2023, the BVCA’s flagship event of the year.
Held in association with Ramboll, a global engineering, architecture, and consultancy company, the ‘Excellence in ESG’ awards celebrate the firms who are spearheading outstanding ESG initiatives across the private capital industry.
Now in its fourth consecutive year, the awards took place at the Landmark Hotel in London. Together with a new ‘Venture Capital’ category launched this year, a judging panel of multi-sector ESG experts assessed the top entries across five categories.
This year’s judging panel comprised:
- Tomas Sys, Principal, UK M&A and ESG Advisory Lead at Ramboll
- Ben Robson, General Counsel and Group Compliance Officer at Molten Ventures
- Eimear Palmer, Partner, Global Head of ESG at Pantheon
The top recognised companies are listed below:
General Partners:
AUM of above £1bn: Ares Management
Ares demonstrated significant ESG maturity and integration in its business culture and the judges were impressed by its enhanced ESG Data programme.
It has published over 300 KPIs as well as scope 3 financed emissions for the first-time, collating data from over 1,200 companies.
AUM below £1bn: Palatine
Palatine was praised for the way ESG is embedded into the culture of the firm, as shown by their B Corp status and by the Carbon literacy training they provide internally to staff, their portfolio, and investors.
The judges have recognised Palatine for its focus on continuously improving their ESG processes and innovations.
Limited Partners:
The top recognised firm in this category is HarbourVest Partners
The judges praised HarbourVest’s contribution to ESG industry initiatives, and their engagement programme with GPs helping them to support their data collection and their own ESG journeys.
Venture Capital:
The top recognised firm in this category is Albion Capital
Albion impressed judges by their strong ESG programme, including improved mapping and reporting.
The firm were praised for their digital hiring playbook which is used to help reduce unconscious bias at a portfolio level.
Portfolio Company:
The top recognised firm in this category is Hawksmoor, nominated by Graphite Capital
Hawksmoor is an operator of steak restaurants, with B Corp Status inferring an impressive level of ESG maturity.
The judges praised its waste and recycling programme, its carbon neutral status, and its engagement across the supply chain to drive ESG and value improvements. Hawksmoor now engages its management and staff on continuous improvement objectives and provides quarterly progress reports to the Board.
Special Recognitions:
- GP with AUM above £1bn: Graphite Capital, PAI Partners, and ICG
- GP with AUM below £1bn: NorthEdge, Piper PE, and Freshstream Investment Partners
- LPs: Adams Street Partners
- Portfolio Companies: Material Exchange (nominated by Molten Ventures)
Shortlist (in no particular order):
- GP: Three Hills Capital Partners and Ardian
- LPs: Neuberger Berman, Columbia Threadneedle
- Portfolio Companies: M Group Services (nominated by PAI Partners), Momentum Energy Group (nominated by Arcus Infrastructure Partners), Onebright (nominated by EMK Capital)
For media enquiries, please contact:
Karen Keany, BVCA: [email protected]
Notes to editors
About the British Private Equity & Venture Capital Association
The BVCA, as the representative body for private equity and venture capital, connects institutional investors, fund managers, companies, advisers and service providers together, with our membership currently comprising more than 650 businesses from across the private capital ecosystem. This includes more than 325 PE and VC firms, 100 institutional investors and 220 professional services firms.
Private capital drives growth – providing the funding, expertise and long-term view that enables companies to innovate and flourish. Our mission is to advocate the transformative nature of the private equity and venture capital community.
