Actis awarded highest grade in UN Principles for Responsible Investment assessment
21 July 2017, London: Actis, a leading investor in growth markets, has been awarded an A+, the highest grade attainable, in the UN backed Principles for Responsible Investment’s (UNPRI) independent assessment.
Actis achieved A+ grade status overall and has been awarded A grades for each of the assets classes in which it invests; Private Equity, Energy and Real Estate, well above the median scores for the industry.
Actis has a dedicated responsible investing team who are part of every single decision making process throughout the life cycle of investments from origination to realisation. The team members are Actis’ deal enablers fully aligned with the investment professionals in pursuit of delivering competitive returns responsibly.
The firm has been a signatory to the UN-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) since 2009, and has reported publicly to the PRI since 2010. The transparency report for the period is available in full on the UNPRI website.
In 2017 Actis published the Values Drive Value report which documents recent examples of responsible investing from across the portfolio. The report also features insights and perspectives from Limited Partners on the increasing significance of ESG considerations for institutional investors.
Shami Nissan, head of Responsible Investment at Actis, said: “At the heart of the responsible investing ethos at Actis is the idea that managing environmental, social and governance issues is not simply about mitigating risk, but about value creation. We take a hands on, highly practical and commercial approach that balances our accountability to our investors with our responsibility to the countries, cities and communities in which we operate. We have never seen a compromise between generating competitive returns and investing responsibly.”
Commenting on the announcement, Torbjorn Caesar, senior partner at Actis, said: “It is fantastic to have received this recognition. I truly believe that responsible investing is a key driver for value and performance. With a long history in our markets we know that trust is earned not through what we say but through how we behave, that means that we do what we say rather than say that we do.”