Sustainable Businesses are the compagnies of the future

Sustainable businesses are the companies of the future

Responsible investment is entering a new phase that requires broader skillsets, new methods and better technology. We are investing to meet these challenges.

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Ardian’s goal is to build companies that last.

This necessarily places sustainability at the heart of our approach and requires us to prepare them to meet consumers’ expectations, adapt to the climate transition and take responsibility for the social impacts of their activities. Since 2008 we have been developing ways to ensure Ardian and our portfolio companies create positive impacts and that we can measure them accurately.

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“We are no longer in the phase of raising awareness. The focus now is taking concrete action, demonstrating its impact and measuring the effects over time.”

Candice Brenet, Managing Director and Head of Sustainability

66%

In 2019, 66% of portfolio companies that had been owned for at least two years had profit-sharing schemes covering all employees

Ardian’s Sustainability Measurement Methodology

In July 2020, we released our Sustainability Measurement Methodology.

This methodology enables us to evaluate the full value chain of each company, from upstream suppliers to downstream products and services. The outputs comprise both a sector-agnostic score, which captures overall impact, and a relative score, which benchmarks the company’s performance against its peers. This allows our investment teams to identify those companies with the greatest potential to transform their contribution and work with them to deliver that change.

The Sustainability Measurement Methodology was developed in partnership with the ESG advisor Indefi and Ashoka, the world’s leading network of social entrepreneurs and was inspired by three international frameworks: the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the Impact Management Project and the Theory of Change.

READ THE STUDY

POSITIVE IMPACT AT SCALE

We group our sustainability efforts under four headings: impact, climate action, diversity and equal opportunities, and profit sharing. During 2020, we developed new ways to address and monitor each of these priorities so that Ardian can advance its work to create positive impact on a much larger scale.

Anthony Francheterre

Chief Executive Officer of Solina, Europe’s leading supplier of savoury food ingredients that joined the Ardian Buyout portfolio in December 2015

“We’ve been doing annual ESG audits and roadmaps with Ardian since 2016, which have been very useful for giving us a good view of our priorities and progress. But by the end of 2019 we felt we needed to enter a new phase and take a more global approach. Using Ardian’s network, we identified experts to help us build a framework that would put impact and sustainability at the heart of our business.”

DATA ANALYSIS TOOLS

Historically, we have concentrated on granular work with individual companies. But our long-term monitoring programs have built up a database of 85,000 ESG KPIs covering almost 90% of Ardian’s assets under management. We have now implemented data analysis tools to help us extract value and insight from this huge store of information.

85,000

We have built up a database of 85,000 ESG KPIs covering almost 90% of Ardian’s assets under management

“Sustainability not only makes companies better businesses, it also addresses the concerns of investors, consumers and regulators, all of whom want to see firms do the right thing.”

Philippe Poletti, Member of the Executive Committee and Chairman of Ardian Sustainability Committee

Driver of positive impact

To learn more, download our Sustainability Report

READ THE REPORT

In a nutshell

ARDIAN IN 2020

1,000+

investors

$11 Bn

raised in 2020

$8,7 Bn

distributed to our investors in 2020

$5,7 Bn

invested through our Fund of Funds platform across 44 primary commitments and 7 secondary transactions in 2020

$8,8 Bn

invested across our Direct, Infrastructure, Private Debt and Real Estate activities in 92 transactions, of which 50 were build-ups in 2020

24,500+

employees of 34 portfolio companies have benefited from profit-sharing at exit by Ardian since 2008, receiving the equivalent of 1 to 6 months’ salary

OUR COMMITMENT TO ACCELERATE THE TRANSITION TO CLEAN ENERGY

Listen to the podcast with
Martin Mugica, Chief Executive Officer of Skyline Renewables

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