We are proud to take a proactive, long-term approach to sustainability and corporate responsibility. Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles serve as the foundation for our overall investment strategy, which endeavours to create lasting, positive change in both our immediate and wider communities.

Alpha Associates has been a signatory to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UN PRI) since 2018 and has been implementing ESG standards in its portfolios since 2006, setting an early benchmark in the ESG space. In the most recent annual assessment by the UN PRI, we achieved the highest rating of 5 stars for our Private Equity, Private Debt and Infrastructure activities, and our commitment to developing a thoughtful approach to ESG remains a key component of our investment approach.

In various client mandates, we also implement individual guidelines regarding ethical and sustainability investment practices. ESG guidelines form an integral part of our investment and portfolio monitoring process and a dedicated ESG Committee ensures strict adherence to both internal guidelines and individual client requirements (please see also our ESG Policy). As a result, the Alpha Associates shortlist managers must invest in compliance with ESG standards and provide regular ESG reporting. We report annually to the UN PRI on our ESG activities and our annual ESG reporting campaign collects homogeneous ESG data around defined KPIs both on manager and portfolio level, which allows us to provide meaningful, aggregated ESG reporting to our investors (please see also the Alpha Associates ESG Report 2023).

As institutional investors, we have a duty to act in the best long-term interests of our beneficiaries. In this fiduciary role, we believe that environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) issues can affect the performance of investment portfolios to varying degrees across companies, sectors, regions, asset classes and through time. We also recognise that applying the Principles for Responsible Investment (the “Principles”) may better align investors with broader objectives of society. Therefore, where consistent with our fiduciary responsibilities, we commit to the following:

• We will incorporate ESG issues into investment analysis and decision-making processes.
• We will be active owners and incorporate ESG issues into our ownership policies and practices.
• We will seek appropriate disclosure on ESG issues by the entities in which we invest.
• We will promote acceptance and implementation of the Principles within the investment industry.
• We will work together to enhance our effectiveness in implementing the Principles.
• We will each report on our activities and progress towards implementing the Principles.

The Principles for Responsible Investment were developed by an international group of institutional investors reflecting the increasing relevance of environmental, social and corporate governance issues to investment practices. The process was convened by the United Nations Secretary-General. In signing the Principles, we as investors publicly commit to adopt and implement them, where consistent with our fiduciary responsibilities. We also commit to evaluate the effectiveness and improve the content of the Principles over time. We believe this will improve our ability to meet commitments to beneficiaries as well as better align our investment activities with the broader interests of society. We encourage other investors to adopt the Principles.