The ESG in the Top 100 US Private Equity Firms for the year 2022 dataset provides insights into the ESG practices and characteristics of the top 100 US PE firms for 2022, analyzed at the firm level.
The dataset is divided into two main categories. The first involves content analysis, where data from the corporate websites of leading US Private Equity Firms were combined to gather ESG-related information through manual analysis of 100 firms. Selection of the first 100 PE firms was based on the 2022 ranking from "Private Equity International," a global insights and data provider for the Private Equity industry. The study exclusively focuses on private equity firms with private equity as their primary investment strategy. The sample of 100 firms is constructed by substituting eliminated entities with subsequent ones from the 2022 Private Equity International rankings, concluding at the 116th ranked Private Equity Firm. The analysis remains flexible, encompassing terms such as 'CSR,' 'Responsible investing,' or 'Impact investing' as part of the exploration of the broad concept of ESG. ESG information from firm websites was categorized into Environmental (E), Social (S), Governance (G), and "Other" (covering factors outside these labels). Each primary category was further divided into two sub-categories: the first contributing to an E, S, G, or "Other" score, and the second encompassing ESG frameworks, signatories, certifications, or sponsorship.
The second part of the dataset is extracted from "Preqin," the leading dataset provider for the Private Equity industry. Variables were extracted from a large Preqin database, and only observations matching the initial 100 PE firms were retained. The data extracted pertained to performance (IRR) and characteristics such as firm size, investment strategy, total number of funds, average vintage, and total funds raised in the last 10 years. Occasional missing data were manually collected from Bloomberg, and observations with additional data collection were flagged in analyses to ensure methodological consistency.
The primary objective was to create an ESG score for assessing the ESG performance of a Private Equity Firm. The ESG-Score was determined by summing up individual scores for each ESG category: E-Score (Environmental), S-Score (Social), G-Score (Governance), and Other-Score. The Other-Score is an element in a company's ESG assessment that encompasses miscellaneous factors not precisely classified as environmental, social, or governance. Alongside the ESG score, an investigation was conducted to determine if Private Equity Firms had explicitly pledged to ESG frameworks. These analyses assessed whether the firms adhere to ESG frameworks, actively participate in ESG initiatives, possess ESG certifications, and are involved in ESG sponsorships.
