Vision Capital invests in mid-market companies spanning a broad range of sectors. We set out to achieve the long-term goals and aspirations of our clients by responsibly delivering superior investment returns. We are mindful that our opportunities arise because others trust us and respect our capabilities and that without our reputation for honesty, integrity and good practice we could not operate as we do.
We believe that integrating Environmental, Social and Governance (“ESG”) considerations into the way we operate is an important part of delivering superior returns and playing a responsible role in the wider business community. Our Responsible Investment Policy sets out the guiding principles that we commit to in order to achieve such an integration, and to make it a fundamental part of the way that we do business.
We regard these principles as long term commitments which will guide both our ethos and our practice as an investment house. They are:
1. We will integrate ESG considerations into our investment analysis and decision-making processes in order to build and protect value through our business transactions while preventing avoidable harm to people, society and the environment.
2. We will seek appropriate disclosure of ESG matters by the companies we invest in.
3. We will exercise our influence as active owners to encourage responsible business practices within our portfolio companies.
4. We will seek to provide meaningful and transparent reporting of our responsible investment performance, spanning our own activities and those of our portfolio companies to those who have a material interest.
5. We will welcome dialogue with our investment partners and other significant stakeholders to further the practice of responsible investment within our own business and more widely in the investment community.
We will aim to align our operational practice to the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment as far as is practical within our resources. Our whole team is expected proactively to participate in the promotion of our Principles within the firm and externally.
Overarching objectives:
1. To maximize commercial success through our investment activity, while avoiding or minimising negative ESG impacts.
2. To comply proactively and consistently with all relevant laws.
ESG-specific objectives:
Our bespoke Responsible Investment Framework puts Governance (G) to the fore, as we strongly believe that it is a necessary enabler in order to maximize our efforts in matters under the Social (S) and Environment (E) headings.
Governance
To ensure that we and our portfolio businesses are run in an exemplary way with a strong governance focus on:
Risk management and compliance, including protecting value and avoiding risk
Transparency and accountability, especially in matters of material relevance to stakeholders
Business ethics and efficiency, creating value and a culture of responsible business behaviour
Social
To ensure that we and our portfolio businesses understand and respond to the interests that are of paramount importance to their stakeholders, paying particular attention to those of:
Employees, including their safety and wellbeing, equality of opportunity and development
Customers, and wider society affected by products and services supplied to the relevant markets
Supply chain, including those working in overseas jurisdictions
Community and wider society, including impact on local and wider economies
Environment
To ensure that we and our portfolio businesses are aware of the actual and potential impacts they may have on the environment, are committed and equipped to prevent unnecessary and lasting harm, and where possible can effect active protection and enhancement, including in the areas of:
Consumption – avoiding or minimising consumption of non-renewable and scarce resources in favour of better efficiency and adoption of sustainable resource use
Waste, pollution and impact on the local environment – careful management of operations to avoid and minimise any direct or local negative impacts
Wider environment – having care and consideration about operations, and what goes into the market, in terms of impact on the wider and global environment.
We will take a precautionary approach to investment decisions when we consider an investment or investment situation seems likely to contravene any of our Principles or Investment Objectives as set out above, and which cannot be addressed within the foreseeable lifetime of our proposed investment or business relationship.
We have opted not to create a list of absolute exclusion areas for investment in favour of the more flexible method of adopting the precautionary approach, which we believe can respond readily to trends and changes in ESG risks as they arise.
We will commit to providing sufficient and appropriate resources and support for our team to pro-actively implement our Principles and Investment Objectives in-house and to cascade the implementation into our portfolio and other significant business relationships.
Endorsed by Vision Capital’s Partner Group