Finance Monthly M&A Awards 2015 Winners Edition

M A & AWARDS 2015 36 Finance Monthly M&A Awards 2015 www.finance-monthly.com UNITED KINGDOM http://www.pwc.com/gx/en/sustainability/publications/assets/bridging-the-gap.pdf Global Sustainability Private Equity Advisor of the Year Phil Case Director - PwC Sustainability & Climate Change Tel: +44 (0) 207 212 4166 Email: philip.v.case@uk.pwc.com Website: www.pwc.co.uk/sustainability FIRM PROFILE We believe Sustainability is at the core of business success and so provide a comprehensive range of services to support business leaders drive growth, reduce and manage risk, maintain supply chain integrity, explore cost reduction and strengthen reputation. PwC’s global sustainability team works with public and private sector clients, NGOs, private entrepreneurs, policy makers and think tanks to make business and economic sense of sustainability and climate change. Our global sustainability team of around 800, is led by the firm in the UK (100) and is part of a global PwC network of over 184,000 people and 157 countries. Specialists work across the complete range of sustainability impacts and business opportunities. Our award winning specialist Private Equity team focuses on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues faced by our PE clients. Whether it’s protecting value through managing risk, or generating value by spotting opportunities, ESG issue management plays an important role, as demonstrated by our recent research: our report (Bridging the Gap) on the approach taken to ESG issues by investors (Limited Partners), showed that 88% believe that there is added value in Responsible Investment and fully 97% consider that the importance of the agenda will grow in the next 2 years. Of more concern to PE Houses, though, will be that nearly a fifth of respondents to our survey have withheld capital or would withdraw from an investment on ESG grounds. From pre-acquisition sustainability assessments, through portfolio company ESG reviews during the “hold” period, to sustainability advice at exit, we identify the value that can be protected and created, and that can be monetised, through focusing on ESG issues at all stages. With investor interest expected to rise in the next two years, ESG management is one area PE houses can show they make a real and measurable difference. Areas of PE Responsible Investment Practice Development of Responsible Investment strategies, policies and procedures; provision of “tools” for policy implementation, including electronic tools for screening potential investments for environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks and opportunities; ESG due diligence pre-acquisition; portfolio company ESG reviews, monitoring and improvement programmes and reporting during the hold period, and; IPO readiness exercises prior to exit.