Launched in 2020, BayPine’s investment thesis was founded on the belief that diversity and inclusion breed strength – different viewpoints and robust teamwork lead to better investments, and ultimately more attractive returns. The Boston-based private equity firm became a signatory to the Institutional Limited Partners Association (ILPA) Diversity in Action initiative, as well as the DEI in PE working group, last year. Read more about the firm below.
Led by David Roux, a co-founder of Silver Lake, and Anjan Mukherjee, a former senior managing director at Blackstone, BayPine was also named a 2022 PE Innovator in ESG by Mergers & Acquisitions. Mukherjee leads DEI at the firm.
What steps are you taking to improve DEI at your firm?
BayPine established a DEI subcommittee that reports to the firm’s broader ESG committee. Senior members of the firm lead the subcommittee, set its quarterly goals and ensure execution. The subcommittee presents progress to the firm’s partners biannually.
Initiatives undertaken by the subcommittee in 2022 include the first firm wide training on unconscious bias. BayPine intends to conduct additional training in the future to ensure continuous awareness and improvement upon important DEI-related topics. This year, BayPine also intends to develop and formalize a recruiting framework that increases diversity within its candidate pipeline and removes potential bias in the hiring process.
What steps are you taking to improve DEI at your portfolio companies?
DEI is a critical ESG issue that is integrated into BayPine’s due diligence processes as well as in subsequent value creation/monitoring processes. Through its diligence of a target company, BayPine requests DEI metrics and analyzes a company’s performance relative to peers, as well as any trends over time that may indicate strong or weak performance in supporting DEI.
BayPine also evaluates a target’s DEI program, including recruitment and retention activities. To the extent that this review identifies opportunities for improvement within the target’s DEI program, BayPine provides actionable recommendations for the target to improve on post-acquisition. Throughout the hold period, BayPine intends to track each portfolio company’s progress across DEI and measure improvements in these areas.
What results have you achieved?
In 2022, BayPine began to track its diversity metrics to identify areas for improvement and measure progress over time. Employees self-identify as 44 percent women and 34 percent racial/ethnic minority. Further, 33 percent of partners/C-suite members identify as racial/ethnic minorities. Other metrics that BayPine tracks as part of this process include sexual orientation and veteran status.
