Data Privacy & Security
Implementing policies, procedures, and controls to ensure better privacy and security management
Responsible Investing
At Sagemount, we have a fiduciary duty to deliver returns for our investors and our portfolio company partners.
Furthermore, we believe that our approach to Responsible Investing creates value and achieves risk-adjusted returns on investment for our investors and our portfolio companies in the growing end markets where we invest.
We actively engage our portfolio companies to ensure best-practice approaches to responsible investment during our ownership.
What is Responsible Investing?
At its simplest, Responsible Investing refers to how businesses consider non-financial factors, such as environmental issues, social impacts, and good governance practices, within their operations, and within the products and services they provide. For many of our companies, having advanced Responsible Investing policies and procedures can be a strategic differentiator to win new customers and to be a more attractive acquisition target.
Deal Evaluation
We employ the “Sagemount Sustainability Standard” (the “Standard”), our proprietary assessment methodology, at the onset of due diligence of prospective investments.
The Standard focuses on the following areas: governance practices, data privacy and security, diverse and engaged employees, and carbon emissions measurement.
The Standard is based on industry leading practices and evolves with the rapidly changing regulatory environment to measure, assess, and monitor portfolio company performance throughout the investment period to help build resilient and dynamic companies ahead of potential exits.
Portfolio Company Engagement
Our Responsible Investing and Growth Factors teams engage with our portfolio companies to help achieve alignment with the “Sagemount Sustainability Standard” during our holding period.
The Standard provides a framework for measurement and target setting to help portfolio companies improve performance from data security to carbon emissions. In addition to helping our companies achieve the Standard, our team performs deep dive assessments on other strategic ESG opportunities that might have higher potential for value creation.
Governance Practices
Ensuring best-practice approaches to ethics and compliance
Workforce Engagement & Diversity
Ensuring employee welfare and promoting a diverse and inclusive workforce
Climate Action
Setting science-based climate reduction targets for companies who want to engage on this initiative to support the transition to a lower carbon economy
Industry Partnerships
Invest
Where there is a more direct link to develop sustainable product offerings to grow revenue and enterprise value, we invest alongside our portfolio companies via the Bregal Sustainable Development Financing Program.
Such loans may seek improvement within the company’s own operations such as renewable energy projects, upstream in the supply chain or downstream at the customer level.
SUCCESS STORY
Connectria's Positive Impact
Connectria, a Sagemount portfolio company and a market leader in cloud solution services aims to minimize the industry's environmental impact while providing customers with the highest-quality service.
Energy is a central component for data center across the globe and the industry is predicted to account for 14% of total worldwide carbon emissions.
A loan issued to Connectria from The Sustianable Development Loan Program, supported by COFRA, enabled 1.4GWh of annual energy savings and emissions reductions of at least 1,500 tCO2e per year.
Contribute
Sagemount actively contributes to supporting local communities through the Bregal Helps Initiative.
The initiative is a €3 million COVID-19 relief fund established in 2020 to help communities affected by the pandemic. Going forward, the initiative will continue to support the most vulnerable in our communities with the overarching mission to provide equal opportunities for all.
BREGAL HELPS SUCCESS STORY
Buyers Edge and Produce Alliance
Providing fresh produce to communities disadvantaged by COVID-19
At the beginning of the pandemic, tons of fresh food went to waste as restaurants, hotels, and schools were closed – leaving farmers with nowhere to sell their produce. At the same time, vulnerable populations across the United States were suffering from increased unemployment and rising food insecurity.
To tackle these issues, Buyers Edge Platform, a leading provider of procurement software, group purchasing and data analytics to the food service industry in the United States, secured a grant to support the Produce Alliance (PA) Foundation’s Produce Box program, a charitable organization focused on addressing the impact COVID-19 has had on the agricultural industry, economy, and disadvantaged communities across the country.
In April 2020, with the support of private and public funding, the PA Foundation purchased and delivered 28,000 boxes containing 500,000 pounds of fresh produce to frontline workers.
Given the success of the program and initial support from the Bregal Helps Initiative, PA was able to demonstrate its capabilities to the United States Department of Agriculture to seek extra funding.
Positive Impacts:
- 294,000 meals provided to families and individuals living with food insecurity
BREGAL HELPS SUCCESS STORY
DentalXChange and Full-Circle Learning
Supporting global communities affected by COVID-19
Full-Circle Learning (FCL) supports individuals worldwide to act as positive change agents in their communities. During the COVID-19 pandemic, FCL's ability to support and upskill change agents was negatively impacted, as volunteers could not engage students in person or instill the sense of community that is a core part of FCL's approach. Initiated by DentalXChange, a leading independent dental data exchange platform, this grant ensured that the FCL staff can continue nurturing schools in the various regions of Africa and provide scholarships, project grants, capacity building, mentorship and general assistance to FCL programs.
Positive Impacts:
- 22 regional facilitators supported to deliver training and workshops in schools covering over 350,000 students.
- 55 students supported with scholarships and programs encouraging them to remain in education.
