FINANCIAL AND LEGAL INFORMATION
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Business description
Committed and responsible investors
To manage its portfolio, Altamir relies on the services of Apax
Partners France and Apax Partners LLP, which are major players
of sustainable financing for companies.
Apax Partners France employs 45 people, of whom 25 are
investment professionals, and Apax Partners LLP employs 200
people, of whom about 100 are investment professionals spread
among eight offices around the world. These professionals are
recruited according to criteria of excellence (
i.e.
, prestigious
universities, MBA and international experience). The two
companies enjoy a strong reputation and are recognised as
leaders who attract the best talent. Their employment policy is
instrumental in developing the loyalty of the staff andmotivating
them, and includes: good working conditions, competitive
remunerationpolicy compared tomarket practices and incentives
(profit sharing and bonuses based on fund performance),
individual and group training programs, formalised evaluation
process, career development, and internal promotion.
The direct environmental footprint of the two management
companies remains limited; both have conducted carbon
assessments, however, which helped to heighten awareness and
establish some initiatives (for example, Apax Partners France
finances projects that aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
as a way to offset its own carbon emissions).
At the business level, both management companies have always
made sure that best practices were implemented within the
companies inwhich they are shareholders, especiallywith regard
to governance (alignment of interests of shareholders and the
management team, composition of the Board, independence
of directors, Audit Committees, etc.). They have also excluded
certain business sectors (such as weaponry and tobacco) from
their investment universe.
For several years, they have each taken the additional step of
formalising anESG (environmental, social andgovernance) policy
with thegoals ofmaking the companies’ performance sustainable
and thereby optimising the creation of value.
ESG policies
Apax Partners MidMarket and Apax Partners LLP signed the
PRI (Principles of Responsible Investing) in 2011, committing
themselves to integrate the responsibility criteria into their
management and investment policies
(www.unpri.org).
The two companies have the dedicated means to lay out and
manage their ESG action plans: Apax Partners MidMarket has
a partner responsible for defining the ESG policy and an ESG
manager toput it inplace; Apax Partners LLPhas a “Sustainability
Committee”, and the portfolio companies have installed data
collection software.
Apax Partners MidMarket and Apax Partners LLP integrate ESG
criteria at every stage of the investment cycle:
before an acquisition,
they conduct ESG due diligence to
identify risks and opportunities to create value;
throughout the investment period,
they create a road map
and implement ESG reporting in order tomeasure the progress
achieved throughout the term of the investment;
upon exit,
they conduct due diligence so as to assign a value
to the company’s ESG performance.
Since they are most often majority or lead shareholders across
the funds they manage, the two companies have the ability to
influence companies’ strategies, and can help them implement
and deploy their ESG policies. In this way, Apax Partners France
influences about 15 companieswithmore than50,000employees,
and Apax Partners LLP about 30 companies with more than
150,000 employees.
The two management companies communicate the information
they collect and process to their investors through biannual
reporting on the performance of the funds and the companies in
the portfolios. A summary is communicated to a wider audience;
it is available online at
www.apax.frand
www.apax.com. Apax
Partners France publishes a Responsibility section on itswebsite,
in which it presents its ESG policy, the actions and initiatives of
its portfolio companies and a HR report on all companies in
its portfolio (changes in staff and payroll, HR policies). Apax
Partners LLPpublishes a dedicated “SustainabilityReport” which
also describes its ESG policy and provides an overview of the
environmental, social and governance data collected from the
portfolio companies.
Both companies participate actively in industry discussions and
contribute to thedevelopment of thesepracticeswithin theprivate
equity profession. For example, Apax Partners MidMarket is a
member of the steeringcommitteeof theAFIC’s ESGcommission.
Moreover, in 2015 it united with four other private equity firms to
launch Initiative Carbone 2020 aimed at tackling climate change
by committing to measure, manage and reduce the greenhouse
gas emissions of its portfolio companies.
They figure among themost advanced private equity companies
in this field and the most widely recognised by the financial
community. Apax Partners MidMarket received the very first “GP
Responsible InvestingAward” fromPantheon in 2012, and in 2015
and 2016 obtained an A+ (the highest grade) for its overall ESG
approach in line with the PRI assessment report. Apax Partners
LLP was awarded the “2015 Responsible Investment Award” by
the British Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (BVCA)
for its work in the ESG arena and its commitment to its portfolio
companies.
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REGISTRATION DOCUMENT
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ALTAMIR 2016