DIF Capital Partners closes credit facility with innovative ESG performance criteria

DIF

DIF Capital Partners (“DIF”) is pleased to announce that it has successfully extended its EUR 1.2 billion credit facility with its main group of lenders for another year until September 2024. As part of this deal, ESG-linked performance criteria have been added to the loan agreement.

The credit facility was closed by the DIF Infrastructure VII fund and is provided by a club of banks including ABN AMRO, BMO, BNP Paribas, HSBC, ING, National Bank of Canada, Rabobank and Santander CIB. ING Bank acted as Sustainability Coordinator.

The loan agreement has been amended to include KPIs for ESG performance, relating both to DIF as a manager and to the ESG performance improvement of the underlying portfolio.

The inclusion of these ESG KPIs in the credit agreement underlines DIF’s desire to positively contribute to a sustainable future. In return, the DIF Infrastructure VII fund benefits from a reduction in margin on the facility upon meeting those KPIs. If the fund does not meet these goals, it will pay a margin premium. This arrangement reflects the lenders’ own ESG positions and commitment to a sustainable future.

“We are delighted to again be working with our long-term lending partners on this innovative credit facility, featuring clear ESG KPIs. The close of this agreement confirms our commitment to delivering a positive contribution to a sustainable future,” said Gijs Voskuyl, Partner and Deputy CEO at DIF.

 

About DIF Capital Partners

DIF Capital Partners is an infrastructure fund manager with ca. EUR 16 billion of assets under management. DIF was founded in 2005 and has a leading position in managing mid-market investments, primarily in Europe, North America and Australia.

DIF follows two strategies: its traditional DIF funds invest in lower-risk mid-sized infrastructure projects and companies in the energy transition (incl. renewables) and utilities sector, as well as PPPs and concessions. The firm’s CIF funds invest in small to mid-sized companies that will thrive in the new economy. These companies are typically active in the digital infrastructure, energy transition and sustainable transportation sector.

With a team of over 225 professionals in 11 offices, DIF offers a unique market approach combining global presence with the benefits of strong local networks and investment capabilities. DIF is located in Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Helsinki, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, New York, Paris, Santiago, Sydney and Toronto.

For more information, please visit www.dif.eu or follow us on LinkedIn.

Contact DIF Capital Partners: press@dif.eu

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Cinven announces its first Sustainability Linked Loan

Cinven

Focused on improving ESG performance across Cinven Funds’ portfolio companies

International private equity firm, Cinven, has agreed its first Sustainability Linked Loan (‘SLL’), comprising a €4bn three-year loan facility with a consortium of banks. The new facility is centred on improving the ESG performance of Cinven Funds’ portfolio companies across a number of Cinven’s ESG focus areas, including climate change, gender diversity and ESG governance. Through the implementation of the SLL, Cinven continues to build on its commitment to ESG and value creation for its investors, portfolio companies and wider society. The SLL is fully aligned with the Loan Market Associate SLL principles. Lloyds Bank is the ESG Co-ordinator of the SLL.

The SLL represents the latest milestone in Cinven’s ESG evolution, which was formalised in 2009 when Cinven became an early private equity signatory to the United Nations’ Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI). Cinven has made significant progress in the ensuing years, with recent developments including becoming a founding member to ILPA’s ‘Diversity in Action’ initiative in December 2020, joining the Initiative Climat International (iCI) in March 2021, and, most recently, joining the ESG Data Convergence Project in December 2021. Cinven’s 2021 ESG Review, published in March 2022, sets out a more comprehensive update of key developments in Cinven’s ESG programme.

Allegra Day, ESG Director at Cinven commented:

We are extremely pleased to have agreed our first Sustainability Linked Loan, which will be vital in helping Cinven’s portfolio companies take their next steps in improving their ESG performance. We believe this is a market leading SLL given its size, its focus on tangible results – such as whether portfolio companies have developed decarbonisation plans aligned to the Paris Agreement – and the broad range of portfolio companies that are within scope of the loan.”

Varun Sarda, Managing Director, Sustainability & ESG Finance at Lloyds Bank added:

“We are delighted we could help Cinven set up their inaugural Sustainable Linked Loan facility. This facility helps Cinven to demonstrate that its ESG strategy is at the heart of how it supports its portfolio companies. This transaction also underlines the pioneering role that the Private Equity sector can play in the sustainable transition, reflecting the growing momentum behind ESG debt in the UK.”

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AURELIUS GROUP JOINS UN GLOBAL COMPACT INITIATIVE

Aurelius Capital

Munich, 21. April 2022 – AURELIUS Group has joined the UN Global Compact (UNGC) and its German subsidiary, Deutsches Global Compact Netzwerk (DGCN). The membership underlines AURELIUS´ commitment to Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) values within everyday practice and complements the Group’s participation at the UN PRI network in December 2021.

The UN Global Compact is the world’s largest and most important initiative for sustainable and responsible corporate governance, globally connecting more than 19,000 companies and organisations. The German subsidiary DGCN has more than 780 participants across business, civil society and politics. The UNGC supports companies in strategically incorporating sustainability values based on ten universal principles and in contributing to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. In line with the UNGC, AURELIUS commits to the initiative´s ten principles, which are assigned to the categories: Human Rights, Labour, Environment and Anti-Corruption.

“Walk the talk – there are not many economic fields where this saying is as resonating as it is with ESG. At AURELIUS, we are not only fully committed to supporting the UNGC´s values – we are also deeply convinced that our organisation and our people can contribute a small piece to the initiatives vision. Joining the UNGC and DGCN is a logical step for us and is aligned with our core values”, stated Matthias Täubl, AURELIUS CEO.

As an official member of UNGC and DGCN, AURELIUS will proudly integrate the principles into its corporate culture and strategy. They will be promoted in the best possible way within day-to-day operation.

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Hg Joins Private Equity Industry’s First-Ever ESG Data Convergence Project Alongside Milestone Commitment of Over 100 LPs and GPs Back

HG Capital

Global LPs and GPs representing $8.7 trillion USD in AUM and more than 1,400 private companies commit to collaborative ESG reporting system in its inaugural year

Since its launch in September 2021, the ESG Data Convergence Project, which seeks to standardize ESG metrics and provide a mechanism for comparative reporting for the private market industry, has announced a milestone commitment of over 100 leading general partners (GPs) and limited partners (LPs) from across the globe to its partnership. The collaboration now represents $8.7 trillion USD in AUM and over 1,400 underlying portfolio companies with new involvement from firms including Hg, Apollo Global Management, Ares Management, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Hermes GPE, and Oaktree Capital Management.

The group is working to streamline the industry’s historically fragmented approach to collecting and reporting ESG data, enabling greater transparency and more comparable portfolio information for LPs. With increased portfolio company representation, the partnership will continue to expand its collection of industry representative data which is expected to increase the quality, availability and comparability of ESG data in private markets.

In Spring 2022, the inaugural data from the ESG Data Convergence Project members will be aggregated into an anonymized benchmark by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) for the 2021 calendar year. The initial data covers the following six categories: greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy, board diversity, work-related injuries, net new hires, and employee engagement.

Intent on creating a long-term mechanism for improving comparative reporting, the group will meet annually to review and assess the prior year’s data, and to build upon and add to the initial metrics. As part of these efforts, the group is also working to expand more broadly in private markets to include asset classes such as private credit.

Private equity industry stakeholders are encouraged to join this partnership of over 100 members to gather better, more informed ESG data, and in turn collectively drive greater progress on critical ESG issues. To learn more about this initiative and how to get involved, click here.

Companies committed to the ESG Data Convergence Project:

Accel-KKR
Adams Street Partners
Advent Partners
AE Industrial Partners
AEA Investors LP
AlpInvest Partners
Ambienta Sgr
American Industrial Partners
AP6
APG
Apollo Global Management
Appian Capital Advisory LLP
Ares Management
Artá Capital SGEIC
Astorg
Audax Private Equity
Avista Capital Partners
Base10 Partners
Birch Hill Equity Partners
Blackstone
Blue Horizon Corporation AG
Blue Wolf Capital Partners
Bregal Investments
Bridgepoint Group Plc
British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI)
California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS)
Capital Innovations
CapMan
Carlyle
Centerbridge Partners
CenterOak Partners
Cerberus Capital Management
Cinven
CPP Investments
Crestview Partners
CVC
Dai-Ichi Life Insurance Company, Limited
DPE Deutsche Private Equity
EIG
EMK Capital
Employees’ Retirement System of Rhode Island
EQT AB
Everstone Group
FCDE
Fifth Wall
Forgepoint Capital
Frazier Healthcare Partners
Freshstream
Frumtak Ventures
FullCycle Climate Partners
G Squared
GCM Grosvenor
GENUI
Georgian
Gilde Buy Out Partners BV
Goldman Sachs Asset Management
Grain Management LLC
Hermes GPE
Hg
IK Partners
Insight Partners
Investindustrial
Investment Management Corporation of Ontario (IMCO)
Jada
Japan Post Bank
Kinneret Group
KLAR Partners
LGPS Central Limited
LGT Capital Partners
Lindsay Goldberg
Linzor Capital
LongRange Capital
Mayfair Equity Partners
Mizuho Bank
Montagu Private Equity
Moonfare
New York State Common Retirement Fund (NYSCRF)
Nordic Capital
Oaktree Capital Management
Onex
Palladium Equity Partners
Parcom Capital Management
Permira
PGGM
Pollen Street Capital
Portobello Capital
PSP Investments
Quadriga Capital
Rabo Investments
Riverstone Holdings LLC
San Francisco Employees’ Retirement System (SFERS)
SEB Private Equity
Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank
Summa Equity
The Pictet Group
The Rohatyn Group
Tikehau Capital
Tishman Speyer Properties
TowerBrook
Unigestion
Universities Superannuation Scheme
Vista Equity Partners
Wellcome Trust
Wellington Management

 

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EQT introduces largest ever ESG-linked Subscription Credit Facility

eqt

  • EQT launches ESG-linked fund level bridge facility – first of this size in the global fund financing markets
  • Backed by a strong syndicate of leading global financial institutions
  • Reinforces EQT’s commitment to an integrated approach to sustainability and responsible ownership – enables execution on EQT’s elevated societal ambitions

EQT today announced the entry into an ESG-linked Subscription Credit Facility related to the Private Equity business line (the “SCF” or “bridge facility”). This is an important milestone on EQT’s sustainability and transparency journey, as the firm seeks to encourage the systemic change needed to reward positive contributions to society. The ESG-linked SCF is yet another example of how EQT will inspire and incentivize portfolio companies in improving their ESG (environmental, social and governance) performance. Adding an ESG perspective into the financing structure manifests EQT’s commitment to an integrated sustainability approach and alignment with the global sustainability goals.

The SCF, which is currently at EUR 2.3 billion and has an upper limit of around EUR 5 billion, is backed by a syndicate of leading global financial institutions, including BNP Paribas and SEB acting as Sustainability Coordinators and BNP Paribas as Agent and Sustainability Agent. It is the very first ESG-linked fund bridge facility of this size in the global fund financing markets. The bridge financing facility will be coupled with a pricing mechanism designed to accelerate the portfolio companies’ ESG performance. The pricing mechanisms are directly linked to EQT’s firm wide elevated societal targets around diversity and climate as well as EQT’s proven governance model and strong commitment to transparency. The pricing mechanism for the SCF is designed to incentivize the performance of portfolio companies in the areas of i) gender equality on the board of directors and ii) renewable energy transition, supported by iii) a fundamental sustainability governance platform.

EQT and the future portfolio companies will work closely with dedicated and experienced advisors to develop customized roadmaps to deliver on the elevated societal ambitions, with measurable KPIs on which they will report quarterly and be audited annually. The aggregated results from the portfolio companies’ ESG efforts will later be compared with the pre-set KPI targets. The portfolio’s averaged fulfilment rate will impact the ESG-bridge facility’s interest rate. Or explained in a simplified manner – the better ESG progress the portfolio companies show, the better the financing terms. A win-win situation, as portfolio companies become more resilient through these actions.

Per Franzén, Partner and Co-Head of the EQT Private Equity Advisory Team, commented: “This is a game changing moment for EQT but also the private equity industry, further evidencing how our industry also can benefit from sustainable financing. For us, ESG plays a crucial role in how EQT future-proofs companies and with an ESG-linked bridge facility, we bring a new dimension to EQT’s value creation process. By linking sustainability objectives to hard incentives, we are really challenging ourselves and the portfolio companies to fully embrace the potential of sustainability – it’s really quite simple, sustainable business is good business and creates better value for all stakeholders.”

Therése Lennehag, Head of Sustainability at EQT, added: “The entire financial community faces a challenge in accessing reliable and comparable ESG data – with this ESG-linked financing facility, we actively contribute to increasing the availability of high-quality ESG data, critical for the financial markets to be able to build a resilient and regenerative economy. We need innovation to accelerate system-wide transformation and it is particularly rewarding that we could launch the SCF despite the challenging marketplace we are currently seeing. It is a strong signal that leading global financial institutions are ready to partner with responsible investors and owners to ensure we all optimize for risk, returns and positive real-world outcomes.”

Guillaume Hartog, Head of Subscription Finance at BNP Paribas: “BNP Paribas is a strong promoter of sustainable finance, notably in the bond and loan markets. Private equity is still very much a new frontier and it has been a privilege to support such a sustainability pioneer as EQT. By closely aligning their sustainability and financing strategies through the ESG structure featured by this subscription facility, EQT established a new benchmark transaction for subscription finance.“

Christopher Flensborg, Head of Climate and Sustainable Finance at SEB: ”Having worked with sustainable finance for more than a decade, being involved as a pioneer across the world and in most sectors, I can tell that the work and commitment we have seen throughout our engagement with EQT on this facility are both impressive and encouraging; and despite that we all have a long way to go, it brings both hope and trust.”

EQT has long considered sustainability an integral part of its business and core to identifying and capturing value creating opportunities, and embarked on its dedicated sustainability and transparency journey over a decade ago. EQT was an early signatory of the UN PRI, has developed an industry leading sustainability framework to inspire and monitor development within its portfolio of companies while  constantly raising the bar in how the firm  integrates sustainability throughout its entire investment and ownership processes.

Contact
Nina Nornholm, Head of Communications, +46 70 855 03 56
EQT Press Office, press@eqtpartners.com, +46 8 506 55 334

About EQT
EQT is a differentiated global investment organization with a 25-year track-record of consistent investment performance across multiple geographies, sectors and strategies. With strong values and a distinct corporate culture, EQT manages and advises funds and vehicles that invest across the world with the mission to generate attractive returns to the fund investors.

EQT’s talent base and network allow it to pursue a thematic investment strategy and distinctive value creation approach, with the aim of future-proofing the companies which EQT invests in, creating superior returns to EQT’s investors and making a positive impact with everything EQT does. EQT has more than EUR 62 billion in raised capital since inception, currently around EUR 40 billion in assets under management across 19 active funds within three business segments – Private Capital, Real Assets and Credit.

EQT is a thought leader within the private markets industry with deep expertise in responsible and long-term ownership, corporate governance, operational excellence, digitalization and sustainability. EQT has offices in 17 countries across Europe, Asia Pacific and North America with more than 700 employees. The EQT AB group comprises EQT AB (publ) and its direct and indirect subsidiaries, which include general partners and fund managers of EQT funds as well as entities advising EQT funds.

More info: www.eqtgroup.com
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