A Guide to Pre- and Post-Investment ESG Considerations and Due Diligence

A recent trend in the private equity (PE) industry is the prioritization of responsible investing by sponsors and institutional investors. A key step in that process is vetting potential investment opportunities to ensure they meet a firm’s standards on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. As an amorphous task without clear parameters, however, it can be difficult for sponsors to understand ESG due diligence considerations and prepare effective questions accordingly. See “Fund Managers Should Prepare for Further Disruption to the Industry or Risk Being Left Behind” (Jan. 10, 2019). To assist with this process, Invest Europe (IE) – an association of PE firms, venture capital firms and other industry participants – used input from its responsible investment roundtable and its professional standards committee to prepare a guide setting forth best practices and due diligence questions to address ESG issues in the pre- and post-acquisition contexts. This article summarizes the guide. See our two-part series on ESG factors in fund investing: “Past, Present and Future” (Nov. 10, 2016); and “Designing an ESG Investing Policy” (Nov. 17, 2016).

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