Ever-Evolving ESG – September 2022 | Issue No. 192 – ESG in Fund Finance – A Banker’s Perspective | Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP

We were very pleased to have the opportunity to speak with Lloyds Bank’s Greg Sidlow (Relationship Director, Funds Finance), Varun Sarda (Managing Director, Sustainability & ESG Finance) and Rebecca Tozer (Associate Director, Sustainability & ESG Finance) to discuss the increasingly prevalent nature of ESG concepts seen in the Fund Finance market.

Fund Finance Friday: Greg, Varun, Rebecca – thank you very much for taking the time to contribute to FFF and for providing your thoughts on the ever-evolving ESG constructs in fund financing. It was fantastic to work with you both on your recent deal with Cinven, which incorporated a variety of bespoke ESG KPIs across the fund manager’s platform.

Greg: Thanks for having us.

FFF: Greg, if we could start with you. Could you give us some insight from the banker’s perspective on the role of ESG within the fund finance market?

Greg: ESG has long been on the agenda for LPs and GPs, with many sponsors being signatories to the UN Principles for Responsible Investment. ESG forms a key part of LPs’ diligence process, and we only expect this to continue to grow in prominence going forward.

GPs have also built out dedicated ESG teams to help integrate ESG due diligence and management of risk and opportunity throughout the investment cycle. ESG monitoring and reporting have been built out accordingly, with the creation of the ESG Data Convergence Project in September 2021 being a notable industry development.

In line with…