05 September 2023
Alcentra Publishes 2nd Annual Stewardship Report
Firm retains its FRC signatory status
Alcentra has published its second Stewardship Report as part of the firm’s commitment to the Financial Reporting Council (‘FRC’) Steward Code. In doing so, the firm has met the high standards the FRC sets for investors, and have achieved signatory status for the second year running.
Alcentra’s stewardship activities are central to the way the firm operates, and directly support its overarching objective of delivering strong, long-term investment returns for its clients. The report – which can be found here – includes notable highlights from the firm’s 2022 activity and milestones for Alcentra’s stewardship program, including:
- Making strides to further embed ESG into its investment process across our portfolios.
- Delivering material enhancements to the ESG strategies of multiple portfolio companies through board appointments and continued engagement.
- Delivering against its commitment to promote gender equality across the firm; with 51% of new hires in 2022 identifying as female.
- Increasing its fund-specific reporting to clients; with Private Credit publishing their inaugural annual ESG Report, disclosing approximately 50 pertinent ESG data points.
In the year ahead, Alcentra will continue to build on its strong responsible investment foundation. The firm has targeted activities across enhanced issuer engagement, reporting and internal ESG training to enhance it responsible investment operations company-wide.
Ruth Davis, COO of Global Business Development said “We are very proud to announce the achievement of our signatory status with the Financial Reporting Council for the second year running, demonstrating our commitment to stewardship and engagement with both issuers and the wider financial services sector. We have made great strides in the sophistication of our ESG platform over the last few years, and we have significant plans to continue that momentum in the future.”
Ross Curran, Head of Responsible Investing said “Our commitment to responsible investment goes hand in hand with our focus on clients, and our ultimate goal of providing attractive long-term returns. We have long considered the significance of robust governance measures on company performance. However, given the material impact of global macro considerations over the past several years – from inflation and financial market volatility to the COVID-19 pandemic, to the geopolitical crisis in Ukraine and severe weather causing detrimental impacts to communities – we have increasingly been guiding our stewardship efforts to focus on social and environmental considerations.”
Vai Patel, Head of ESG said “Alternative credit managers like Alcentra may not have the same level of strategic control of companies as equity owners, but expectations around ESG are no different. Interest in ESG from our investors has grown exponentially, even in the last three years. At Alcentra we are constantly looking at what all this means for our investment and engagement processes – and how we can continue to hone our engagement with our portfolio companies around reporting and performance improvements.”
Alcentra is one of the largest European headquartered credit and private debt managers, with $35 billion of assets under management and global expertise in Senior Secured Loans, High Yield Bonds, Private Credit, Structured Credit, Special Situations and Multi-Strategy credit. Across all of our investment strategies we employ a disciplined, value-orientated approach to evaluating individual investments and constructing portfolios. Alcentra is a wholly owned subsidiary of Franklin Resources, Inc. (Franklin Templeton) which is one of the world’s largest independent investment managers with over $1.4 trillion in total assets under management as of June 30, 2023.
