ESG Analytics to hire four for planned New York private equity RI metrics office

ESG Analytics, the Zurich-based research firm for sustainability metrics in private equity investments, is looking to hire up to four new people for a New York office that it will kick-start in May. Rina Kupferschmid-Rojas, Chief Executive of the firm, has transferred from Zurich to New York and will open the new office, adding to the existing four staff based out of Switzerland. Kupferschmid-Rojas, who was named as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in Davos earlier this year, led the spin-out in September 2012 of ESG Analytics to become a separate entity after it was created within Adveq, the Swiss private equity fund-of-funds manager where Kupferschmid-Rojas was Investor Relations and Development Manager. The business, in which Adveq retains a partner stake, started as its in-house ESG integration information platform. It advised the private equity managers in which Adveq invests on ESG metrics for their portfolio companies and on the capabilities of the same managers for external investors. Kupferschmid-Rojas said the service can now be bought by other private equity houses andexternal investors looking to compare their managers on ESG resources. She said ESG Analytics looks at 136 different key ESG performance indicators in private companies across different industry sectors. It has partnered with South Pole Carbon in Switzerland to sell CO2 screening and environmental impact assessment for companies and funds, and with RepRisk for corporate ESG risk indicators. Kupferschmid-Rojas, who is a member of the Private Equity working group of the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment, told RI that the company would begin full marketing of its products in May including web-based products and services such as responsible investment reporting, indices, and customized policy development. Kupferschmid-Rojas says the response from the private equity industry to ESG integration has been broadly positive: “Fund managers see that they can drive efficiency changes and the underlying portfolio companies see the business benefits, so the prospects are very strong.”
Link to ESG Analytics