Sustainability
As our planet and society faces unprecedented challenges, we see private equity as a force for good.
For Palatine, sustainability isn’t a trend or a label, it’s a proven value-creation strategy embedded in our core.
Some call it ESG, we call it good business. Being a responsible corporate citizen is important, but ESG is more than ethics; it is a strategic driver of value. Sustainability strengthens businesses while delivering positive social and environmental outcomes. In other words, doing the right thing and doing well are mutually reinforcing.
As a sustainable investor, we use our expertise and network to inspire, guide and educate mid-market management teams to make sustainability improvements that drive financial performance, unlock value and deliver strong returns. We’ve been doing it for over a decade, and our sustainability model has consistently proved its worth.
A business imperative that creates value
Driving sustainable growth that delivers returns
Acting sustainably is no longer a nice-to-have. Climate risk, tightening regulation and shifting consumer expectations mean that sustainability is now a central commercial consideration. Businesses that act now gain competitive advantage; those that don’t fall behind.
Private equity is uniquely positioned to drive this transition. By combining capital and capability, we help our portfolio companies treat ESG as the commercial lever it is, building resilience, strengthening reputation, deepening stakeholder trust, reducing risk and opening new market opportunities.
The evidence is clear: companies with strong ESG performance consistently deliver superior financial outcomes. This is why we treat sustainability as a commercial imperative and not a compliance exercise.
Our leading position in delivering sustainable business growth is reflected in our B Corp accreditation. We scored 119.7 out of 200 in the B Impact Assessment, making us one of the highest-scoring private equity firms in Europe.
How we do it
We have led the way in the UK mid-market private equity industry, pioneering an award-winning ESG framework and successfully integrating our ESG programme across our portfolio for over a decade. ESG and sustainibility is embedded throughout Palatine with all our teams contributing to making it a key focus in what we do and stand for as a business.
Over that time, our approach to sustainability in applying our ESG lens has evolved from risk mitigation to value enhancement, and it is now embedded in every strategic growth plan across our portfolio.
By implementing, monitoring and evaluating ESG initiatives forensically across a diverse range of businesses and industries, we have armed ourselves with a genuine depth of knowledge and a tried-and-tested approach.
Award-winning ESG Framework
Our comprehensive pre-deal to exit framework enables material ESG matters to be identified and proactively managed by our investment and value enhancement teams and means that we start identifying opportunities to improve performance right from the due diligence stage.
At the outset of an investment, each company undergoes a baseline review against our ‘Six Pillar’ ESG strategy, which includes everything from climate impact to diversity and inclusion and employee wellbeing.
From here, we set outcome objectives and bespoke key performance indicators (KPIs), so that we can monitor success and recalibrate when we need to.
Continuous improvement
Our in-house sustainability, investment and value-enhancement teams support management teams on their proactive ESG journey. Working collaboratively, we ensure continual improvement throughout the lifetime of our investment and help create value to produce resilient, sustainable companies that generate the best returns for our investors.
In addition to our own team, we draw on our network of sustainability experts to ensure that we innovate and evolve our approach, and tackle challenges as they arise.
Robust evaluation
The depth and transparency of our monitoring and reporting are unique for a private equity firm of our size.
By annually monitoring improvements from the baseline assessment to exit, we are able to evidence and communicate successful outcomes and tackle underperformance. We regularly review our strategy to ensure that the most pressing and relevant environmental and social challenges are being addressed in our ESG programme.
In addition to bespoke KPIs for each portfolio business, we also map performance against the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to help us achieve the greatest positive outcomes across the portfolio.
Our Sustainability team
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Stephanie Wall
Senior Sustainability Director
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Nikhita Mistry
Sustainability Manager
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Abeer Salman
Sustainability Executive
Impact Investing
Building on our award winning ESG strategy we raised a returns focused impact fund in 2017. Through this fund we invest in companies with the intention to create social or environmental change and, importantly, measure and report the change they are creating.
Meet Steph, who leads our Sustainability team
We’re facing a humanitarian and environmental crisis on planet earth, whether that’s through climate change, environmental degradation, biodiversity loss, and broadening inequalities. The timeframe in which we can act is shortening. I think now more than ever, businesses need to step up to the sustainability table and take action. We need to act fast, and we need to act with responsibility.
“It’s not only the sustainability team’s role to deliver sustainable outcomes. The investment team and value enhancement team ensure sustainability is high on management’s agenda, and that it’s embedded within the strategic growth plan from the outset. Ultimately, as a team we work collaboratively to help ensure a long-term positive outcome.”
Steph Wall
Senior Sustainability Director – Palatine