WCP is committed to promoting CSR within its various businesses and involving its employees in this effort.

  

In 2011, Weinberg Capital Partners pledged to take a responsible approach by signing the 6 Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) of the UN which are recalled below :

1. We will incorporate ESG issues into investment analysis and decision-making processes ;
2. We will be active owners and incorporate ESG issues into our ownership policies and practices ;
3. We will seek appropriate disclosure on ESG issues by the entities in which we invest ;
4. We will promote acceptance and implementation of the Principles within the investment industry ;
5. We will work together to enhance our effectiveness in implementing the Principles ;
6. We will each report on our activities and progress towards implementing the Principles.

 

2016 marked a milestone in the overhaul of our entire ESG process.

An ESG committee has been created, chaired by Serge Weinberg and composed of 6 representatives of the various WCP professions. The committee meet twice a year and a report of each session is send to all employees. The role of the Committee is :

• To structure the responsible investment process in business and company management ;
• To set goals for progress ;
• To allocate the necessary resources for the deployment of action plans (man-hours, budgeting, experts support, etc.)

In 2018, in order to mobilize against global warming, WCP signed the 2020 Climate Initiative. This initiative is the first collective commitment of French Private Equity firms to promote the responsible and transparent management of greenhouse gas emissions in the companies of which they are shareholders. The signatories of the iC20 have decided to contribute to the COP21 goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees.    

WCP is committed to continually improving its approach as a responsible investor in both its company management and its investment business.

 

In our investment activities

We are convinced of the need to integrate ESG (Environment, Social and Governance) into all our investment activities. Our approach is more advanced in our LBO activity and covers all portfolios.

Since 2016, we have made a commitment to integrate ESG components throughout the SME investment cycle by adapting our requirements to the company's size and sector in order to create an opportunity for exchange, which creates value.

Communicating and promoting these efforts is the next requirement for passing on best practices, convincing others of the usefulness of the approach and bringing together the initiatives, often more numerous than one might imagine, within French SMEs.

Although in our real estate activities the environment is the most important of these aspects, the fact remains that we are committed to integrating all three ESG components in order to assess not only the risks but also the opportunities they present.

 

 

Within the financial community

WCP has been a signatory of the PRI since 2011 and our teams are committed to implementing these six principles. WCP is an active member and participates by voting in the elections to appoint new Board members and by contributing to annual reporting.

WCP has also signed the charter of the French association of investors for growth (AFIC).

Aware of the global warming issues, WCP has signed in 2018 the Climate Initiative 2020, a market initiative launched in 2014 by the Private Equity World. This measure aims to fight global warming and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Thus, WCP is committed to achieving a carbon footprint of the companies in its portfolio (information available on request).

 

WCP take part in a responsible approach towards the environment and its employees

Our commitments to the environment

Avoid CO2 emissions :

Greenhouse gas emissions generated during business trips by team members are certainly the most significant impact on the environment. We sensitize employees to limit these trips by favoring, as much as possible, the use of videoconference, public transports and eco-friendly taxi. We also support the use of electric bicycles.    

Reduce and recycle consumables :

An awareness policy was conducted in 2018 to make employees aware of the need to reduce their paper consumption. The photocopiers were equipped with badges thus significantly reducing orphan consumption.

For several several years, we have entrusted the recycling of paper and plastic to ELISE, a solidarity-based company that employs people with social maladjustments or disabilities. In 2018, WCP has recycled 2  726 Kilos of paper / cardboard, which represents a sving of more then 62   000 liters of water, ie 895.94 showers of 5min (70L) or 817.80 Kg of CO2 not rejected equivalent to 181.73 Lille/Nice trip by train.

Since 2016, we have initiated a dematerialization process of the reporting documents which are now available at any time on the investor area of our website  : www.weinbergcapital.com

 

Our commitments to the employees of the company

Promote diversity  :

Weinberg Capital Partners has 25 employees with an average age of 39.2 years. The team has 32% women, 20% binational, 10 languages are spoken in the company: French, English, Portuguese, Spanish, German, Italian, Russian, Romanian, Ukrainian and Polish.

 

Promote conviviality  :

In 2018, the company moved to a new location where all employees are on the same floor and are offered common spaces conducive to conviviality. It has been an important factor in the life of the company. Fresh fruit baskets are also available to employees.   Sports coaching sessions and team seminars are organized to foster cohesion.

 

Commitment to civil society

WCP leaders have always been very active to support various organisations mainly in health and education. They have associated the employees of the company with their approach and today we have three tutors of the Télémaque Institut.

“Télémaque” is an association, founded in 2005 at the initiative of Serge Weinberg (then President of PPR) and Patrick Gagnaire (Social consultant). This initiative is born from a double observation: France is the most unequal European country in education, especially in secondary education (CNESCO, 2016) and France is the most affected European country by social determinism. Since 2002, the weight of social origin on the performance of 15-year-old students has increased by 33% (Ministry of Education, 2014). In partnership with the Ministry of National Education, the Télémaque Institute aims to promote equal opportunities.

The Télémaque Institute was chosen by the investment team of the WCP IMPACT DEV Fund to be the beneficiary of a part of their carried interests. Investment team members holding C units will pay between 5% and 30% of their carried interest based on the level of performance achieved on the impact criteria.

The Institute has been informed and we formalized this commitment in the Fund's legal documentation.

 

WCP is also supporting other organisations  :

Under the aegis of the « Fondation de France », the KCF Foundation, created by Gary Kasparov, aims to promote the practice of chess in schools located in French-speaking countries. The foundation is particularly active in the French suburbs and in some African countries.

It is recognized that chess can make an essential contribution to reading and learning mathematics. The goal is to train 1 million children in 5 years. Convinced that training by chess is a great opportunity, WCP committed in 2018 to pay 30K€/years for at least 3 years to organize events in France.

Serge Weinberg is also a founding member and treasurer of the Brain and Spinal Cord Institute (ICM), an international research center whose goal is to enable the rapid development of treatments for lesions in the nervous system.