Mergers & Acquisitions names the 2021 PE Innovators in ESG, including, Apollo.
Apollo evaluates investments’ ESG propositions from the start—it’s a component of firmwide due diligence work. Those initial assessments inform a process that continues through to portfolio company disposition. Firms submit yearly data and narrative reports that “further refine existing engagement strategies with each portfolio company,” Apollo says. That’s no small feat for the New York-based fund with $481 billion under management.
The devil is in the details reported. Investment companies provide insight into fuel, water, and energy consumption and cost. Charitable donations, gender and race demographics, volunteer hours and turnover are also evaluated. As are data privacy policies, cybersecurity trainings, and governance policies. The figures aren’t siloed, either. The data is framed in terms of year over year progress.
The aggregated work product has been published for the last 12 years. That’s put Apollo in position to notch some of the most impressive wins in private equity. In a climate in which collecting standardized metrics for ESG goals eludes most investors, one figure stands out: 30 percent. That’s the proportion of women and minorities on the board of Apollo portfolio companies. And here’s a second figure, this time adding a human element to the firm’s value commitment: 100. This year, the firm took its place among 767 employers with a perfect score on the Human Rights’ Council’s index of best places to work for LGBTQ equality.
In October, Apollo brought aboard Dave Stangis, a partner who joins the firm in the newly created position of chief sustainability officer.
