Mohammed Alardhi: all businesses must prioritize responsible investing to move towards more sustainable economies
Investcorp, a leading global alternative investment firm, today announced the release of its 2021 Responsible Business Report. The report includes Investcorp’s Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) highlights for 2021 and specific initiatives the Firm implemented to meet its goals, as well as some case studies illustrating areas where the firm has demonstrated its commitment to responsibility as a core component of its values and culture. The launch took place at the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week Summit.
During 2021, the Firm delivered on its previous commitments to work with stakeholders to integrate ESG considerations across all its business lines and the markets it operates in. In 2021, the Firm:
- Became a signatory of the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI).
- Developed its proprietary responsible business framework which has been embedded across all its investing businesses as well as at the corporate level.
- Introduced asset-class specific processes for ESG integration into new investment and ongoing portfolio management activities and conducted its first carbon footprint assessment across Scope 1, Scope 2, and select Scope 3 emissions.
- Ranked in the top five globally among the most inclusive firms across the private equity and venture capital industry according to Equality Group’s first Inclusive Top 20 PE & VC Index.
- Increased its commitment to DE&I through a new policy that requires 50% of all shortlisted job candidates to come from diverse backgrounds as well as through forming a partnership with Xponance to seed and acquire minority stakes in alternative asset managers led or owned by people from diverse backgrounds.
“We are at a crucial moment in time where business leaders must prioritize responsible investing to do their part in moving towards a more sustainable economy. Global collaboration enables us to determine where we can make the greatest impact in fulfillment of our purpose and position us to create, and provide, new sustainable solutions,” said Mohammed Alardhi, Executive Chairman of Investcorp. “I am proud of our Firm’s achievements over the past year, where we have implemented our new framework to reinforce our business priorities and engage synergistically with all stakeholders.”
“At Investcorp, we have a fundamental belief that sustainability is an inseparable part of creating value within our investments,” said Rishi Kapoor, Co-CEO of Investcorp. “Both our internal commitments as well as our support for our portfolio companies across their ESG and DE&I initiatives are critical components of our mission towards building more resilient businesses that will ultimately deliver attractive returns for our investors in a sustainable manner.”
In the coming year, Investcorp is committed to continuing to increase its ESG efforts, particularly in regard to progressing the decarbonization journey across its investments, driving more equitable and inclusive employment initiatives, and providing additional support on enhancing governance practices to portfolio companies that it believes would benefit most from this in the emerging markets.
Investcorp participated at the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week through various activities as a Summit Partner. A delegation led by Co-CEO, Rishi Kapoor attended the Opening Ceremony at Expo 2020 Dubai, and Rishi Kapoor spoke in a session titled “Predicting Sustainable Value over Time” where he discussed how applying ESG principles in businesses contributes to better performance. Additionally, Investcorp’s ESG Lead, Habib Abdur-Rahman, will participate at the Youth 4 Sustainability Hub taking place on 19th January in a session titled “An Investor’s Perspective on ESG” aimed at students and young professionals.
For more information about Investcorp’s ESG initiatives, please visit https://www.investcorp.com/esg/.
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About Investcorp
Investcorp is a global investment manager, specializing in alternative investments across private equity, real estate, credit, absolute return strategies, GP stakes and infrastructure. Since our inception in 1982, we have focused on generating attractive returns for our clients while creating long-term value in our investee companies and for our shareholders as a prudent and responsible investor.
We invest a meaningful portion of our own capital in products we offer to our clients, ensuring that our interests are aligned with our stakeholders, including the communities that we operate within, towards driving sustainable value creation. We take pride in partnering with our clients to deliver tailored solutions for their needs, utilizing a disciplined investment process, employing world-class talent and combining the resources of a global institution with an innovative, entrepreneurial approach.
Investcorp has today presence in 12 countries across the US, Europe, GCC and Asia, including India, China and Singapore. As of June 30, 2021, Investcorp Group had US $37.6 billion in total AUM, including assets managed by third party managers, and employed approximately 430 people from 45 nationalities globally across its offices. For further information, visit www.investcorp.com and follow us @Investcorp on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram.
