News

In the furore that has enveloped private equity these past weeks, one of the criticisms of their way of doing business is the absence of any regard to corporate social responsibility (CSR).



UNI Global Union has had a look at the websites of a range of the key private equity funds and has found precious few, if any, references to CSR, to the ILO core conventions, the UN Global Compact or the UN Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI).



We are struck by the lack of any commitment to these global principles, which have been forged to improve the accountability and responsibility of the business community to all shareholders.



It confirms the observations in an October 2006 publication by Business for Social Responsibility on private equity, which stated:



“…it is challenging to find even a minor reference to CSR matters among fund managers or those who spend time assessing trends in private equity funds. Issues of human rights, labor standards, environment and even corporate governance are seldom discussed as pros and cons of private equity.”

It goes on to conclude:

“…the fact that private equity funds closely guard their information represents a substantial impediment to actively analyzing the CSR performance of companies they hold.”



In the weeks to come, we will be keeping a close watch on whether there will be a shift towards more transparency, disclosure or any commitment to CSR principles.