Multiplying potential
Welcome to our environmental, social and governance (ESG) report for 2022. We are pleased to share our progress as we continue our journey of responsible investment.
The year in reviewPermira is a global investment firm with 470+ people in 15 offices spanning Europe, the United States and Asia. Operating as Permira since 2001, our buyout, growth equity and credit funds have total committed capital of approximately €77bn, having backed hundreds of businesses around the world.
Permira private equity aims to multiply the potential of companies and leaders to build successful businesses with sustainable growth ambitions. Multiplying potential also applies to our own firm and people. We aim to create an environment in which, together, we can build successful enterprises with sustainable growth ambitions.
It is also our view that well-governed businesses perform better, so we encourage and influence the same high standards of ethical conduct, integrity and transparency across our funds as we aim for ourselves.
During 2022, we focused on raising our ESG ambitions. Our longer-term ambition is to seek to:
Apply a values-based investing approach, with the most recent buyout fund being the first to implement this approach
Build on climate action in the portfolio, helping companies be ready for the future
Increase focus on ESG in buyout fund portfolio companies, as part of their journey on value creation
Lead by example on ESG in our own firm, with a particular focus on climate, culture (particularly diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives) and community, through the work of The Permira Foundation.
Our business model
Transformational investing at scale
Through a thematic, growth and sector-focused strategy, we seek to build lasting value across the private equity funds’ portfolio companies.
Permira & ESG
Leading the way at Permira
Permira believes that enabling long-term value creation for investors and wider stakeholders requires a forward-thinking and collaborative mindset.
ESG in our portfolio
Capturing and measuring ESG progress across the portfolio
We undertake annual ESG monitoring and reporting in the private equity and direct lending credit funds. With this insight, we are able to better target ESG engagement, training and best practice sharing.
ESG IN OUR FIRM
Reporting on our commitments
We are pleased to share our progress as we continue our journey of being a responsible firm.
About this report
The report spans our global private equity (PE) and private credit businesses but data are disclosed at strategy level only for the PE buyout funds (where we have a higher level of influence), and certain growth equity funds. Individual fund and company performance is made available to investors in the funds, in separate, confidential reports. Reporting extends to Permira’s ESG activities as a firm, including The Permira Foundation.1
References to “Permira” should be understood as including Permira Credit, as the context requires and unless otherwise specified.
SFDR fund classifications and disclosures
The ESG landscape continues to develop and this report presents the position we had adopted as at 31 December 2022. As we look forward, our monitoring and reporting is being reviewed to consider the evolving regulatory agenda on ESG, particularly in the UK and Europe, notably the EU Sustainable Financial Disclosures Regulation (SFDR) and the EU Taxonomy Regulation.
As at 31 December 2022, Permira VIII, a buyout fund, was classified by Permira under SFDR as an Article 8 fund that “promotes, among other characteristics, environmental or social characteristics, or a combination of those characteristics, provided that the companies in which the investments are made follow good governance practices,” following a reclassification in January 2022.
All other funds included in this report have been classified under SFDR as Article 6 or ‘mainstream’ funds, whereby “financial market participants shall include descriptions of the following in pre-contractual disclosures: a. the manner in which sustainability risks are integrated into their investment decisions; and b. the results of the assessment of the likely impacts of sustainability risks on the returns of the financial products they make available. This includes so-called ‘legacy funds’ raised before SFDR was introduced in March 2021.
The classification of Article 6 funds, including so-called “legacy funds”, is driven by a number of factors which our ESG programme is seeking to address. This includes the funds considering whether their investment confers control of the portfolio company, the length of time they have been invested, information available from the company and the relevant maturity of the relevant company’s ESG programme and approach at the date of investment by the fund and the priority of ESG given the nature of the company’s sector and activities. In particular, the vintage of the fund is of significance given how much our ESG programme has developed and continues to develop from its initial focus on the buyout funds now extending to other fund ranges strategies.
As at 31 December 2022, all Permira Credit funds that fall under SFDR were classified as Article 62. In 2023, Permira Credit’s latest direct lending fund, Permira Credit Solutions V (“PCS5”), was reclassified from Article 6 to Article 8.
Thank you
We would like to thank our investors, portfolio companies and wider stakeholders for their insight and openness during another year of significant challenges, including the war in Ukraine, increased market volatility, rising inflation and tighter monetary policy.
1 Registered by the Charities Commission for England and Wales as charity number 1175061. Find out more about The Permira Foundation.
2 Direct lending (PCS) funds and structured credit (Sigma) funds.