Actis publishes disclosure statement to the International Finance Corporation’s Operating Principles for Impact Management
Actis has published its disclosure statement against the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) Operating Principles for Impact Management. Actis is a founding signatory and one of the first to publish a statement, reflecting its intent to promote industry standards for more transparent and robust impact measurement. The statement has been externally verified by PwC LLP. Both documents can be seen here.
The Operating Principles for Impact Management (‘the Principles’) provide a reference point against which the impact management systems of funds and institutions may be assessed. Underpinned by five stages – strategy, origination and structuring, portfolio management, exit, and independent verification – the Principles establish a robust impact management system, enabling investors to generate positive impact for society alongside financial returns.
Shami Nissan, Head of Responsible Investing at Actis commented: “As a founding member and one of the first adopters of the Principles, we are pleased to publish our first annual disclosure statement to demonstrate our adherence to the Principles. We are delighted that our statement has been independently verified. We hope that others will follow suit and contribute to setting a new standard for reporting and measuring impact. At Actis, we believe that investing responsibly and with impact creates businesses that are more resilient, more innovative and more valuable whilst also delivering societal benefits. Improving the transparency of impact reporting therefore makes commercial common sense for us.”
Alan McGill, PwC’s Global Sustainability and Assurance Lead, added: “The IFC Principles and their requirement to publicly disclose alignment marks a watershed moment for the impact investing industry. Over 50 asset managers are expected to provide insight into what they do to manage impact strategically and through the investment life cycle in the next five weeks, and to have these statements verified. These disclosures provide as yet unparalleled transparency into how investors are approaching delivering social and environmental impact alongside a financial return and contribute to furthering norms in the industry. The verification requirement is critical to upholding standards and ensure that firms do more than pay lip service to the Principles. We are proud to have verified Actis’ disclosure statement.”
Actis pursues impact objectives that align with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, enabling the firm to leverage its investment expertise to achieve measurable impact outcomes.
In 2018, Actis launched the Actis Impact ScoreTM (AIS), a proprietary framework which supports Actis in the measurement and monitoring of intended and actual impact performance. The AIS is calculated from investment to exit across the entire portfolio. Aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Impact Management Project dimensions of impact, the open-source methodology offers investors the tools to target and measure their impact through verified metrics.
Actis is a signatory to the UN-backed Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). The firm has been awarded the highest rating score, A* for the third consecutive year in the UN PRI independent assessment.