Hellman & Friedman

At a Glance

Industry

Financial Services and Insurance

Project Type

Financial Evaluation and Planning

Year

2015

Location

New York, NY

Summary

Laura Huober assisted private equity firm Hellman & Friedman (H&F) with respect to ESG strategy and process as well as identifying energy-efficiency opportunities for certain H&F portfolio companies.

Goals

Hellman & Friedman tasked EDF Climate Corps fellow Laura Huober with several goals, including reviewing its ESG (environmental, social and governance) framework, refining its process of identifying ESG opportunities in current portfolio companies and target investment companies and examining ESG matters at select portfolio companies, including conducting an energy-efficiency analysis for one of H&F’s portfolio companies.

Solutions

Working with H&F’s Portfolio Operations, Investment, Legal, Compliance and Investor Relations professionals Huober refined H&F’s ESG framework, which defines how H&F integrates ESG into each phase of the investment process. She also reviewed key ESG issues by sector and helped develop tools to allow H&F to identify top-down ESG opportunities in current portfolio companies and target investment companies. By speaking with personnel at H&F’s portfolio companies overseeing ESG matters, Huober was able to assess ESG maturity within the portfolio and develop ESG case studies. As a specific example, she developed a model to assess energy-saving opportunities from lighting upgrades under two alternative scenarios for a portfolio company with hundreds of locations.

Potential Impact

The impact of Huober’s work has been to further strengthen H&F’s approach to ESG, including how the firm will continue to integrate ESG considerations at the various phases of the investment process. Through Huober’s efforts, H&F is better equipped to identify ESG opportunities in current portfolio companies and future investment companies from a top-down strategic perspective.  Finally, Huober’s analysis of two hypothetical lighting upgrade scenarios for a current portfolio company revealed a potential opportunity to reduce the company’s annual electricity use and its carbon dioxide emissions.

 


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