Paris, 2nd of March 2020
LBO France complies with the Equator Principles
LBO France has completed the process of adopting the Equator Principles (EPs), which will apply specifically to its infrastructure and project finance investments. LBO France is adopting the Equator Principles as of today. The EPs are a risk management framework, adopted by financial institutions, for determining, assessing and managing environmental and social risk in projects, that provides a standard of due diligence and monitoring to support responsible risk decision-making. The EPs are based on the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) Performance Standards on Environmental and Social Sustainability, and on the World Bank Group’s Environmental, Health and Safety Guidelines.
We believe that this commitment to comply with robust standards of management of environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks, strengthens our focus on achieving positive ESG impacts through our infrastructure and project finance investments. With this step, LBO France further supports its actions on sustainability performance in its infrastructure debt strategy.
Jacques Franchi, Head of Debt, CIO at LBO France: “We are proud to adopt the Equator Principles, we are convinced that complying with these standards will benefit our Infrastructure Debt investment strategy significantly”.
Marc Guyot, Head of ESG at LBO France: “The EPs are a guarantee of quality in our environmental and social risk assessment and management and they represent a logical addition to the ESG commitments that LBO France has already made gradually since 2011 with the signature of the UNPRIs, the cofounding the Initiative Climate International (formerly IC 2020) and the signing of the sustainable building plan. Integrating the EPs into our decision-making process contributes to mitigate environmental and social risks, and will support our investments to achieve the results that will support the Energy Transition towards a low carbon economy.”
LBO France Energy Infrastructure Debt strategy focuses mainly on energy generation and energy efficiency assets, supporting directly the Energy transition and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, also supported by the Paris Agreement on climate change. Indeed, in addition to the reporting provided to the EPs, the Energy Infrastructure investment fund will also report to investors key positive impacts measures, such as GHG avoidance, clean energy produced, amount of waste reduced, reduction of energy consumption in buildings, depending on the sector where the investments will focus on.
About LBO France
As a key player in private equity with €6bn of commitments, LBO France is an independent company that has been supporting French and Italian companies in their growth for more than 30 years. Its investment strategy is built on 4 distinct segments managed by dedicated teams: (i) Mid Cap Buyout through the White Knight funds and Small Cap Buyout through the Hexagone/Small Caps Opportunities funds, (ii) Venture Capital through the SISA/Digital Health funds, (iii) Real Estate through the White Stone and Lapillus funds, (iv) Debt. LBO France is 100% owned by its management and employs nearly 60 professionals.
SHAN Agency
Lola Gozlan – +33 1 44 50 58 72 – lola.gozlan@shan.fr
Léa Schultz – + 33 1 42 86 82 81 – lea.schultz@shan.fr