BPCE - 2020 Universal Registration Document

NON-FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE STATEMENT

SUPPORTING THE ENERGY, ECOLOGICAL AND SOCIAL TRANSITION IN LOCAL REGIONS

SEVENTURE PARTNERS As a private equity operator, Seventure Partners is aware of its responsibility in directing its investments towards projects, companies or sectors that present fewer ESG risks and that support the development of a more sustainable economy. Under the guidance of the ESG steering committee, ESG issues have been integrated into the investment policy, in particular by: defining a responsible investment policy excluding sectors • with high ESG risks; systematically analyzing ESG risks prior to each investment • and throughout the duration of the relationship; having a pragmatic approach to the ESG challenges and • objectives of the investments in view of their size and development challenges; engaging in a systematic dialog on ESG with the managers of • the portfolio companies. FLEXSTONE As a private equity operator, Flexstone relies on systematic formalized ESG analysis throughout its investment process. In 2020, Flexstone worked on the evolution of this ESG analysis grid by adding new indicators and taking account of priority SDGs when assessing each investment. Flexstone also published its first overall ESG policy in 2020 following the merger of its three entities (1) . ALLIANCE ENTREPRENDRE An expert in private equity for SMEs and mid-sized companies, Alliance Entreprendretakes ESG criteria into account throughout the investment cycle, depending on the materiality of the issues. The ESG assessment is presented to the Investment Committee and, when the situation allows, an ESG clause is included in the shareholders’ agreements, including the commitment to send an annual assessment of the ESG indicators. Alliance Entreprendre’sresponsible investment policy applies to all assets managed by the asset management company. VAUBAN INFRASTRUCTURE PARTNERS As an affiliate specializing in infrastructure investments, Vauban’s investments mainly concern the energy transition, social issues, mobility, and access to digital technology. ESG issues are systematically analyzed for all assets using a proprietary methodology, and this analysis is carried out in line with the SDGs. AEW CILOGER AND AEW CAPITAL MANAGEMENT AEW CILOGER, in Europe, and AEW Capital Management, in the United States, are asset managers specializing in real estate. During the acquisition phase for direct investments, ESG aspects are examined and discussed with the investment committee. Before making any investment decisions, the investment team looks at: ESG strategy; • certifications; • renewable energy on site or renewable energy certificates • purchased; risks relating to the water supply and water quality. •

AEW CILOGER offers systematic integration of ESG criteria on 17% of its assets (€5.9 billion), and in 2020 it created an SRI module on the energy performance monitoring portal to track action plans for improving the ESG performance of all assets. AEW CILOGER set up a working group within the French associationof investment property companies (ASPIM) to create a real estate SRI label in France incorporatingcriteria covering all environmental, social and governance issues. After local work carried out in 2019, the certification resulted in a ministerial decree and was published in July 2020. In this vein, the SRI certification of two consumer funds is pending. It should take place at the beginning of the 2021 financial year. To assess ESG performance, the AEW Capital Management securities team has developed a proprietary ESG rating system based on measurable environmental indicators, governance indicators and social performance assessed by third-party non-financial rating agencies. AEW Capital Management acquired over US $1 billion in gross property values in 2020, all of which include ESG analysis. AEW Capital Management is committed to integrating the 17 SDGs into the activities of the entire company portfolio, to ensure that its ESG program contributes to a more sustainable world. This integration is monitored and measured by the ESG Committee and a third-party ESG consultant. The results are published each year in the sustainable development report. NIM INTERNATIONAL NIM International is a service and fund distribution platform, offering its clients a range of solutions combining the requirement of financial performance with robust non-financial analysis. The ESG approach is broken down according to the types of management activities: assets under management delegated to affiliates, assets managed by NIM Solutions, and tailored investment solutions (structuring activity). For the management activity, NIM Solutions has developed a quantitative and qualitative internal ESG analysis methodology: definition of the investment universe, applying a quantitative • filter; proprietary scoring to identify the best ESG funds; • qualitative proprietary analysis (including ESG experience of • the investment team, integration of ESG into the investment process of the underlying funds, and voting practices). In 2020, NIM Solutions launched a range of three SRI-certified ESG funds of funds. This range gives clients access to all the socially responsible expertise of NIM affiliates in the form of funds of funds, whereas this type of offer is very rare on the market (only two funds of funds were previously SRI-certified). For more information on the ESG policies of Natixis affiliates, please refer to Chapter 6.4.1.3, “Socially responsible investment,” of the Natixis URD.

2

(1) In 2018, Flexstone Partners was created by the merger of three private equity houses: Caspian Private Equity, Euro-PE, and Eagle Asia Partners.

77

UNIVERSAL REGISTRATION DOCUMENT 2020 | GROUPE BPCE

Made with FlippingBook - Online Brochure Maker