Responsibility – Community Involvement

Sagard is committed to building a team that proudly includes the talent and perspectives of women, people of color, Indigenous people, and the LGBTQ+ community. 

We engage portfolio companies to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion objectives and set specific targets for some of our investment strategies.

• Examples of targets include:
  • Sagard Private Equity Canada: Two board members or more per portfolio company from under-represented communities by the end of the fund’s holding period
    • Learn more:  [NTD link to SPEC policy]
  • Portage Ventures: 25% or more of founders from under-represented communities
    • Learn more: [NTD link to PV policy]
  • Sagard Senior Lending: 30% or more of portfolio allocation to borrowers with a diverse C-suite¹
    • Learn more: [NTD link to SSLP policy]

Sagard supports organizations who work to create inclusive wealth. Sagard supports the Black Wealth Club, the Indigenous Leadership Circle, Women in Capital Markets, and Women in Wealth Tech.

¹A diverse C-Suite is defined as at least one senior executive representing gender diversity (non-male) or racial diversity (non-white), LGBTQ+ and/or veterans.

Cybersecurity is integral to protecting the value our portfolio partners create for their clients and their clients’ data. We are building practices that we hope will contribute to a safer, more secure world of digital innovation.

For example:

• Teams perform cybersecurity assessments as a part of their investment process where relevant.
• We have built a dedicated cybersecurity center of excellence within our value creation team, specialized in evaluating cyber risk and helping our partners improve their practices.

Climate change has immense consequences globally. As stewards of capital, we are building practices that make us better, more informed investors as we seek to understand our changing world and the new risks and opportunities it presents.

For example:

• We support the 2016 Paris Agreement and the voluntary recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).

• A climate governance framework has been defined to ensure appropriate oversight of climate risk and opportunities. Some teams conduct climate scenario analysis on part of the portfolio and evaluate the related impacts.¹

• We have completed a carbon footprinting exercise and successfully offset the emissions for 2021-2022 from Sagard offices.² [NTD link to carbon report]

¹Analysis has been done using 2 different scenarios : IPR 1.5°C RPS and NGFS Current Policies by the SPEC, Portage, SCP and EverWest teams. Between 15-100% of portfolio coverage at the time of the analysis (Q4-2022). For analysis covering less than 100% of the portfolio, holdings were chosen on their potential exposure to climate risk (qualitative assessment, based on industry exposure).

²We calculate our footprint using the GHG Protocol and offset all of our scope 1 and 2 emissions and some of our scope 3 emissions.

Sagard has a robust structure in place to govern its approach:

• Sagard’s Board of Directors is responsible for the overall responsible investment strategy and direction of the firm

• The following bodies contribute to Sagard’s Responsible Investment objectives: 
  • ESG Committee of the Board
  • ESG Committee
  • Sustainability Committee
    • Climate and Community Impact subcommittee
    • Diversity, Equity and Inclusion subcommittee
    • Wellness committee
  • ESG Forum
  • ESG Steering Committee¹
  • Management Committee
  • Investment Committees

¹ESG Steering committee is part of the Sagard SAS’s governance structure.

Sagard has a robust structure in place to govern its approach:

• Sagard’s Board of Directors is responsible for the overall responsible investment strategy and direction of the firm

• The following bodies contribute to Sagard’s Responsible Investment objectives: 
  • ESG Committee of the Board
  • ESG Committee
  • Sustainability Committee
    • Climate and Community Impact subcommittee
    • Diversity, Equity and Inclusion subcommittee
    • Wellness committee
  • ESG Forum
  • ESG Steering Committee¹
  • Management Committee
  • Investment Committees

¹ESG Steering committee is part of the Sagard SAS’s governance structure.

• Board of Directors
• ESG Committee of the Board
• Executive Committee
• Sustainability Committee
• Firmwide ESG Committee
  • Climate and Community Impact subcommittee
  • Diversity, Equity and Inclusion subcommittee
  • Wellness committee
• Investment Committees
• ESG Steering Committee¹

¹ESG Steering committee is part of the Sagard SAS’s governance structure.

Sagard is a signatory to the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI).

We support and are aligned with the six PRI Principles and aim to contribute to a prosperous and inclusive society by actively incorporating ESG factors into our decision-making process. Our commitment to the PRI allows us to codify these commitments and benchmark ourselves against industry best practices to measure our progress over time.

PRI Principles:

1. We will incorporate ESG issues into involvement 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 we invest in.
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 toward implementing the Principles

Sagard is a signatory to the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI).

We support and are aligned with the six PRI Principles and aim to contribute to a prosperous and inclusive society by actively incorporating ESG factors into our decision-making process. Our commitment to the PRI allows us to codify these commitments and benchmark ourselves against industry best practices to measure our progress over time.

PRI Principles:

1. We will incorporate ESG issues into involvement 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 we invest in.
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 toward implementing the Principles

Sagard is a signatory to the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI).

We have a duty to act in the best long-term interests of our beneficiaries. In this fiduciary role, we believe that environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) issues can affect the performance of investment portfolios (to varying degrees across companies, sectors, regions, asset classes and through time). We also recognize that applying these Principles may better align investors with broader objectives of society. Therefore, where consistent with our fiduciary responsibilities, we commit to the following principles:

1. We will incorporate ESG issues into involvement 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 we invest in
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 toward implementing the Principles

Our initiatives take into account relevant sustainability frameworks and standards such as:

• Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
• Value Reporting Standards 
• Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB)
• Paris Agreement
• Climate scenarios

Investment teams are empowered to customize their responsible investment strategies to generate maximum impact in their respective asset class.

In many cases, the process includes:

• Red flags in preliminary deal screening; 
• Materiality analysis during due diligence using SASB;
• Climate scenario analysis;
• Regular ESG and sustainability performance measurement

For an increasing number of our strategies, we target that at least one-third of portfolio companies contribute to advancing selected SDGs (Sagard NewGen, Sagard MidCap, Sagard Healthcare).

Our initiatives take into account relevant sustainability frameworks and standards such as:

• Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
• Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB)
• Paris Agreement
• Climate scenarios
• GRESB (formerly the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark)

Investment teams are empowered to customize their responsible investment strategies to generate maximum impact in their respective asset class.

In many cases, the process includes:

• Red flags in preliminary deal screening;
• Materiality analysis during due diligence using SASB;
• Climate scenario analysis;
• Regular ESG and sustainability performance measurement

For an increasing number of our strategies, we target that at least one-third of portfolio companies contribute to advancing selected SDGs (Sagard NewGen, Sagard MidCap).  Sagard Healthcare’s strategy also offers a strong alignment with the SDG.