ESG Policy
03/18/2024
Great Hill Partners’ primary objective is to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns for its investors. Consistent with this objective, Great Hill Partners invests in companies and management teams that have integrity, are accountable for their social and environmental impacts, and have governance in place to improve those impacts. We consider Environmental, Social, and Governance (“ESG”) factors in our investment process to help improve performance and reduce risks. We recognize that integrating ESG considerations into our investment decisions can benefit our portfolio companies, their employees, and the local communities in which they operate. Recognizing the importance of responsible investing to Limited Partners, the private equity industry, and the commercial ecosystem as a whole, Great Hill Partners has developed our ESG Policy, outlined below.
Scope
Our ESG Policy was first implemented with the commencement of GHEP VI, a 2017 vintage fund. This Policy applies to all investments considered by our Investment Committee, beginning with GHEP VI. While the ESG Policy outlines our general approach to ESG across our firm and portfolio, there may be circumstances where we only apply elements of the ESG Policy that we determine to be commercially reasonable and practical.
ESG Integration Guidelines
Due Diligence
We designed our diligence process to provide a comprehensive understanding of a company’s opportunities and risks. As such, we integrate ESG considerations into our due diligence process for all investments. Our objective is to make financial decisions on a full set of risk-reward factors and we view ESG considerations as important inputs into our investment process.
Our diligence review is customized for each target company taking into account company size, industry sector, and geography to identify relevant topics such as environmental (e.g., climate change, environmental footprint), social (e.g., employee health & safety, human rights, diversity & inclusion) and governance (e.g., data privacy & security, intellectual property protection & competitive behavior) factors. For each company, we identify a subset of relevant ESG issues. We incorporate ESG analysis in the Investment Memorandum for every deal and discuss any ESG issues identified as potentially material in our Investment Committee discussions. A representative list of ESG factors considered in the due diligence process is attached as Exhibit A.
Monitoring and Reporting
We provide all portfolio companies with our ESG Policy, and request that management teams be aware of and advance these principles in their operations. We monitor portfolio company ESG performance and include an ESG section in the Quarterly Reporting documentation.
Governance
The ESG Committee consists of Executive Committee Member & Managing Director Christopher Gaffney, Managing Director & Head of Investor Relations Mary Kate Bertke, Chief People Officer & Growth Partner Tracy Keogh, Investor Relations Vice President Trisha Ryan, and ESG Specialist Paige Shetty. The ESG Committee is responsible for program oversight and annual review. The Executive Committee, consisting of Managing Directors Christopher Gaffney, Michael Kumin, Mark Taber, and Matthew Vettel, maintains ultimate responsibility for determining how to manage significant ESG issues and opportunities at the Firm and investment level, including changes to our ESG Policy. The investment team participates in ESG training annually.
Conclusion
We are committed to staying informed on ESG developments and best practices. We evaluate our ESG Policy annually and consider changes or additions as appropriate to help ensure the way we integrate ESG into our investment process helps us earn exceptional returns. We believe that by investing in companies and management teams with integrity and that are accountable for their impacts on society and the environment, we will achieve superior results for our investors.
Representative ESG Factors Considered in the GHP ESG Integration Process
• AI-related Risks & Opportunities
• Business Ethics
• Climate Change
• Customer Privacy
• Customer Satisfaction
• Data Privacy & Security
• Diversity & Inclusion
• Employee Health & Safety
• Employee Recruitment, Engagement, & Retention
• Environmental Footprint
• GHG Emissions
• Human Rights
• Improved Patient Outcomes
• Intellectual Property Protection & Competitive Behavior
• Managing System Risks from Technology Disruptions
• Product Lifecycle Management
• Resource Efficiency/Management