The push towards more environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives in the investment space continues with one of the biggest players in the indexing market, S&P Global, announcing recently that it has acquired investment company RobecoSAM’s ESG ratings business.
The acquisition includes the SAM Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA), which is a widely followed benchmark that tracks sustainability practices of companies. The CSA is recognized in the industry as one of the most advanced ESG scoring methods with 20 years of experience behind it.
Per an Investment Europe report, S&P Global’s acquisition “will bolster S&P Global’s position as the premier resource for essential environmental, social, and governance (ESG) insights and product solutions for its customers. Through this acquisition, S&P Global will be able to offer its clients even more transparent, robust and comprehensive ESG solutions. The Company’s clients will now have access to one of the most proprietary and unique datasets based on information analyzing over 4,700 companies at present. The company coverage is expanding rapidly and will accelerate under S&P Global’s wider ESG efforts.
“Through this acquisition, S&P Global is bringing an additional layer of critical insight to our leading suite of ESG product offerings, which will further enable our customers to create resilient strategies, build a sustainable future, and meet the expectations of an evolving market,” said Douglas Peterson, S&P Global President and CEO.
“Beginning with the launch of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index over twenty years ago, RobecoSAM has been an exceptional partner in our shared commitment to bringing essential ESG intelligence, data and insight to the financial markets. Today’s announcement is an exciting next step in the evolution of our partnership that will allow S&P Global to create market differentiating ESG products and deliver new content and capabilities to our customers.”
“The ESG data landscape is changing rapidly and data providers are evolving along with it. S&P Global is best positioned to maintain and build on the leading position of the CSA, which will continue to benefit Robeco, RobecoSAM, and their clients,” added Karin van Baardwijk, vice chair of the Board of Directors, RobecoSAM. “This transaction will allow us to focus on the successful integration and application of the CSA data that is used in many of our investment processes. Sustainable Investing is our key strength. We have carefully crafted our expertise in this area for over 20 years and been recognized for our excellence through numerous awards and the trust which clients put in us to help them invest sustainably. We will continue to invest and innovate in our Sustainable Investing capabilities to ensure we not only remain at the forefront of this exciting field but also expand our leading position.”
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