Sustainability Value Creation in Private Markets

Catalog description

This course provides an overview of the way sustainability (environmental, social and governance) factors are analyzed in private markets. It focuses on preparing students to implement their understanding of the financial and societal risks and opportunities within the investment making process. In private markets, limited partners (pension funds, endowments, high net-worth individuals) have pushed the sustainability imperative and social consciousness of private equity funds and asset managers by seeking greater clarity around how their money is invested in both a responsible and financially meaningful way. Alongside this trend, an evolving regulatory environment globally has propelled the need to systemize evaluation frameworks for stakeholders within investment functions and advisors who support them. Unlike public markets, sustainability information is harder to glean in private markets and requires a skilled extraction and evaluation process. During this course, we examine a traditional ESG due diligence process embedded within the wider investment lifecycle (sourcing, diligence, hold and exit) through the lens of changing geographic regulatory landscape in financial investing and the market leading frameworks that quantify ESG factors for evaluation. The course culminates with a deal due diligence process that mimics an investment committee (IC) comprised of private equity leaders that understand the commercial and purpose-driven viability of an investment.