Private Equity Council Members Adopt Guidelines for Responsible Investment
(
Washington DC, 10 February 2009
) – The Private Equity Council today announced that its
members have adopted a set of comprehensive responsible investment guidelines that they will apply
prior to investing in companies and during their period of ownership. Guidelines call for
consideration of environmental, health, safety, labor and governance issues, openness with
stakeholders and respect for human rights.
The guidelines grew out of a dialogue between PEC members and a group of the world’s major
institutional investors, which took place under the umbrella of the United Nations-backed
Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI).
“Private equity is all about investing for growth and maximizing returns to our
investors. To accomplish that today requires considering a range of environmental, governance,
human capital, and social issues,” said Private Equity Council President Douglas Lowenstein".
Today's announcement explicitly and formally affirms PEC members’ commitment to fully integrating
these responsible investment guidelines into both our pre-investment and post-investment
processes".
PRI Executive Director James Gifford said: “A year ago, we reached out to the private equity
sector, including the Private Equity Council, to launch a dialogue on how best to address
environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues in line with the PRI Principles. Today’s
announcement by the PEC that its members have adopted these comprehensive guidelines on responsible
investment marks a major step forward in our efforts to elevate ESG issues at all companies, public
and private".
"We are pleased that the PEC has committed to meeting with us twice annually to have a
sustained dialogue on these guidelines and ESG issues,” Gifford added.
Ted Eliopoulous, Interim Chief Investment Officer of the California Public Employees
retirement Systems (CalPERS) added: “We signed onto PRI because we believe that encouraging
policies and practices that help create a better society for this and future generations is an
excellent way to maximize our investment returns. As a limited partner in many PEC members’ funds,
we know that private equity has not only generated positive returns for our beneficiaries but has
also been a positive force in building stronger, more competitive companies".
Contact
Gavin Power
Deputy Director
Head of Financial Markets
UN Global Compact
powerg@un.org
+1-917-679-8144
Jerome Tagger
Chief Operating Officer
Principles for Responsible Investment
jerome.tagger@unpri.org
+1 (347) 551-0273
About the Private Equity Council
The Private Equity Council, based in Washington, DC, is an
advocacy, communications and research organization and resource center established to develop,
analyze and distribute information about the private equity industry and its contributions to the
national and global economy. PEC members are: Apax Partners; Apollo Global Management LLC; Bain
Capital Partners; the Blackstone Group; the Carlyle Group; Hellman and Friedman LLC; Kohlberg
Kravis Roberts & Co.; Madison Dearborn Partners; Permira; Providence Equity Partners; Silver
Lake, THL Partners; and TPG Capital (formerly Texas Pacific Group).
