Establishing the manager's contribution to the achievement of impact

In this International Finance Corporation (IFC) case study, Partners Group showcases one of the IFC's Operating Principles for Impact Management – "establishing the manager's contribution to the achievement of impact" – in a case study on its lead investment in portfolio company Techem, a German energy services provider. The case study shows how Partners Group enhanced the company’s impact through strategic and operational initiatives, whilst also improving operational and financial metrics. Partners Group was a first adopter of the IFC's Operating Principles for Impact Management, which launched in 2019, and played an active role in their development.

Partners Group's impact-at-scale strategy

Partners Group launched an impact-at-scale investment strategy in 2018 focused on companies and infrastructure assets with business models that can advance the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A central tenet of this investment thesis is that active ownership is the primary lever to improve an asset’s financial performance while also increasing its impact. By acquiring a controlling interest in companies on behalf of its clients, Partners Group implements significant value creation and environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives that drive financial and social returns and minimize negative impacts. The firm has created a simple yet robust framework for measuring the impact of these initiatives.

Investment in Techem

In 2018, Partners Group invested on behalf of its clients in Techem, a German energy infrastructure and energy services company and market leader in “submetering” services. Sub-metering is a cost-efficient way to reduce individual heat and water consumption by providing residential energy consumers with technology and services that offer consumption data on a regular basis and incentivize more efficient resource use through lower costs.

Today, Techem’s services lead to a total CO2 avoidance of more than seven million tons per year. The impact assessment for Techem established that installing and maintaining sub-metering devices in apartment buildings enables better monitoring of energy use and temperature regulation, helping to improve energy efficiency and advance SDG target 7.3 to: “by 2030, double the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency.” The assessment also outlined that, as Techem’s lead investor, Partners Group would hold majority governance rights and could use its expertise to enhance the company’s impact through strategic and operational improvements.

You can read the full case study on our website:

https://www.partnersgroup.com/en/news-views/in-the-media/detail/article/ifc-establishing-the-managers-contribution-to-the-achievement-of-impact/