Reflections on the past year
Matthew Brockman
Managing Partner at Hg
Let’s be honest, 2022 was not a year to savour. Frankly, it was a challenging year for those that invest and rely on capital markets. And it continues in the early months of 2023.
But our business is focused on the long term. On the use of software and the value of technology. In that context, when you think in decades rather than years, the period of 2020-21 cheap money exuberance and the resulting correction, is a blip.
Our emphasis has always been, and will always be, on backing enduring and resilient businesses. We are trusted by our investors, who manage the many millions of individual pension accounts that support us, to build these sustainable businesses. So we are encouraged to see such resilience across the network of Hg businesses.
And it’s not just in the financial performance, it’s in employment, in customer service and in sustained levels of investment.
Our long-term record is for a 20% annual increase in employment in knowledge jobs across the Hg portfolio, valued at around $120 billion, and we’re proud that this continued in 2022.
We also focus our actions across the areas where we think we can have most effect. Whether it is environmental issues such as targeting emissions through science-based targets, or diversity and inclusion programs across our firm and portfolio or addressing social opportunity and skills shortages through The Hg Foundation – these are wider issues beyond managing pension fund money well, but where we hope that we can genuinely have some impact.
Years like 2022 test resolve. I am proud that we have stuck to our purpose. To respect pensioners’ money and to build sustainable businesses. We are not perfect, we will continue to learn and improve each year, but that responsibility to our investors, to employees in the businesses that we back and to my colleagues is embedded into the purpose of everything we do.
Caroline Löfgren
“In 2022/23 we continued to build our ESG programme and team. Hg’s ESG team is now twice the size it was a year ago, with four individuals working to improve ESG across our portfolio and providing transparency to our stakeholders. The average ESG score across the existing portfolio is 8 out of 10, representing an increase of 4% from the prior year despite more challenging scoring criteria. As we move into the new financial year, we will provide even more support to our portfolio companies and further transparency towards our clients. We have come a long way but recognise there is more to be done and we are looking forward to building on existing and new initiatives in 2023/24.”
Steven Batchelor
“ESG has always been important to Hg and is increasingly a must-have for our clients. In 2022/23 we have seen unparalleled interest from our clients for ESG data on Hg and our portfolio companies, and rightly so. This year, we have grown our ESG team, which enables us to focus more on delivering year-on-year improvement in ESG across the board, futureproofing them for years to come.”
Kerry Heaton
“It is our mission to ensure an inclusive workplace and culture, where people can be themselves regardless of their background. We are proud that our team now represents around 48 different nationalities and is 42% women, marked improvements from where the firm was 5 years ago and making us a winner of Real Deal’s “Diversity & Inclusion Leader of The Year” for the last two years. Despite this progress, we cannot ignore that there is more to be done to ensure everyone has equitable access to a career in our industry and to ensure we have more diverse representation across all levels of the firm. This is why, as we continue to grow and evolve, diversity and inclusion is threaded through our thinking and embedded in our actions.”
Hg at a glance
We look to grow sustainable businesses which are great employers and good corporate citizens, whilst also generating strong returns for the millions of pensioners and savers who are invested with us. ESG is embedded into our business practices and the way we invest and manage our portfolio.
donated to charitable giving
donated via the Hg Foundation
female employees across the firm
female employees in Hg’s investment team
Glassdoor score
Nationalities
UNPRI signatory since 2012 Private Equity
UNPRI signatory since 2012 Investment Stewardship1
Further reading
1 Hg scores: **** (82/100) for Investment & Stewardship & Policy, and ***** (100/100) for Private Equity. Hg’s most recent 2020 transparency report and UNPRI’s methodology
