At Dunedin we are committed to working alongside our portfolio companies to ensure that environmental, social and governance considerations are integrated within each of their operations.  Management of these issues should not be an ad hoc consideration but integrated into business as usual and key to delivering long-term, responsible, sustainable growth.

The five pillars below help to guide our own decision making processes and provide an ESG framework for our portfolio companies to ensure they act in a responsible manner.

Environment – minimising and managing environmental impacts;
People – respecting and empowering employees;
Business Ethics – operating to the highest ethical standards;
Governance – operating to the highest standards of corporate governance; and
Community – delivering positive community engagement.

Each of our ESG pillars is covered in greater detail below and focus on both the management of ESG risks and realisation of potential commercial opportunities.  Whilst these pillars form the basis of our expectations of portfolio company performance, we understand that they are likely to vary in relevance across our businesses and the markets in which they operate. We therefore apply these on a case-by-case basis to ensure we are managing key material ESG risks and opportunities.

We publish detailed ESG information on each individual portfolio company on a quarterly basis, in a dedicated section of our Quarterly Reports.  ESG is a regular board agenda item, not only internally for Dunedin, but also for every one of our portfolio companies.

Environment – minimising and managing environmental impacts

Minimising and managing key environmental impacts is fundamental to good environmental stewardship, and is core to acting as a responsible investor/business. Compliance with the appropriate regulatory framework is an essential requirement, and we expect all our portfolio companies to have the appropriate monitoring systems in place to ensure they meet all current regulatory requirements.

Beyond meeting compliance requirements, we believe there are numerous opportunities to deliver commercial value through ongoing improvements to environmental management, specifically focusing on resource efficiency and energy management.

The focus and breadth of issues will be shaped by individual companies and would be expected, in most cases, to address the following operational impact areas:

Energy - manage and minimise energy usage (considering buildings, fleet and travel);
Waste - follow the waste management hierarchy: 1) prevention 2) reuse 3) recycle then 4) disposal (with disposal to landfill being the least preferred option); and
Water - manage and minimise water usage.

People - respecting and empowering employees

We believe that developing appropriate people policies which focus on respecting and investing in employees will contribute towards an engaged and motivated workforce. Where possible we encourage portfolio companies to:

• Provide flexibility to employees in managing their work-life balance;
• Offer opportunities for learning and development;
• Identify and invest in talent;
• Operate open two-way communication with employees;
• Encourage and promote a diverse workforce; and
• Ensure the health and safety of all employees.

This is not an exhaustive list and we expect initiatives in this area to be relevant to the individual business and the market within which they operate. At the very least we would expect portfolio companies to meet industry practice in people management and benchmark themselves on a regular basis against industry peers. Health and Safety should be a key board agenda item for all portfolio companies.

We are delighted to be a Sponsor of Level 20, the not-for-profit organisation established to inspire women to join and succeed in the private equity industry.

Our firm supports Level 20's mission to encourage greater female representation across the private equity industry with the goal of having 20% of senior positions in the industry held by women and with a particular focus on increasing the number of women in investment roles.

We support Level 20's five key initiatives to achieve this mission: mentoring and development; networking and events; outreach; advocacy; and research. We encourage our employees irrespective of gender to be active members of Level 20 by contributing to Level 20-led research, discussion groups and outreach events and participating in the annual mentoring programme. Our firm's engagement with these activities is led by our internal Level 20 Ambassador.

Business Ethics - operating to the highest ethical standards

At all times we expect honest and transparent trading. We expect portfolio companies to:

Maintain high standards of business integrity at all times;
Have a clear anti-corruption and anti-bribery policy, supported by appropriate levels of compliance monitoring; and
Understand the key risks associated with suppliers’ labour practices (i.e. the use of child labour, working conditions, wages and discrimination) and environmental impacts throughout the supply chain.

Governance - operating to the highest standards of corporate governance

Good governance is vital and underpins the performance of our portfolio companies. We insist that companies have regular, structured board meetings with supporting papers, undertake regular strategic planning, and have a clear focus on the revenue opportunities and operational improvements that will drive shareholder value.

In addition to this, and relevant to this policy, we expect our portfolio businesses to ensure that responsibility for ESG related matters is designated to an individual with suitable authority and that ESG matters are considered at board level on a periodic basis.

Community - delivering positive community engagement

Positive community engagement can offer a range of business benefits (recruitment, enhanced reputation and brand, etc) and provide businesses with support from the communities within which they operate. Typical positive engagement may include:

• Linking up with charities working in the area;
• Sponsoring specific workplace projects;
• Sponsoring wider community initiatives; and
• Minimising any direct community impacts.

We recognise that portfolio companies work with a varied number of local and national charities, and that the reasons for each engagement are unique to each organisation.

Please contact Lorna Kelly in the first instance for any ESG related queries.