Apex Group Launches ESG Benchmarking Database For Private Markets

Apex Group Ltd. (Apex Group), a global financial services provider, announced the launch of an ESG Data as a Service (DaaS) database and benchmarking index for the private markets. Apex Group has been collecting, verifying, and examining private market ESG data from more than 400 general partnerships and 1500 portfolio companies in more than 45 countries since 2019, compiling a proprietary and verified ESG database for benchmarking performance.

Apex Group believes that ESG data collection and reporting has become increasingly important in private markets. The next step in the evolution of ESG for these market participants is to compare ESG performance metrics against industry peers. The ESG DaaS database will include dozens of anonymized data points for peer comparison including environmental and carbon footprints, disclosure and management of climate-related risks and opportunities, diversity and inclusion statistics, cybersecurity breaches and best practices, as well as revenue generation from green, sustainable, or socially impactful products and services.

The ESG DaaS offering consists of four main solutions and will initially be available only to Apex Group’s existing clients:

1. ESG Benchmarking Index For Private Markets: Global and anonymized private market dataset, independently verified by Apex Group ESG experts.
2. Tailored Advisory Services With Granular Sector Benchmarking: Recommendations tailored to individual companies to identify and improve area of underperformance.
3. Regular Market Insights And Research Updates: Aggregated research on verified ESG data trends in the private markets to drive understanding and positive change through best practice insights.
4. Correlation Of ESG And Financial Performance Metrics: Access to analysis on verified relationships between ESG and financial performance.

The announcement follows the launch of new solutions as part of ESG Impact Month including Impact Positive, EU Taxonomy, and DEI Solutions.

Apex Group has recently become a technology platform provider for the ESG Data Convergence Initiative (EDCI), an industry-led initiative converging ESG metrics for the private equity industry, by generating performance-based, comparable ESG data from private companies. As a supporter of the EDCI, Apex Group is streamlining data submission and validation for member general partnerships. To date, the initiative has more than 260 general partnerships and limited partnerships managing more than US$25 trillion in assets, improving the private investment industry’s approach to the collection and reporting of ESG data.

“When it comes to ESG, it is no longer acceptable for private markets investors to ‘mark their own homework’ in-house,” said Joshua Brunert, global head of Product Development for ESG at Apex Group. “Independent data assessment, verification, and benchmarking is essential to ensure the integrity of ESG reporting and to drive positive change. Verified and accurate data underpins meaningful comparisons against international standards and monitors change over time. With Apex Group’s pioneering ESG DaaS solutions, private markets investors can now, for the first time, accurately compare ESG performance against their peers and sector.”