OUR ENVIRONMENTAL APPROACH
We aim to minimize the environmental impact of our business wherever we are around the world. Our approach to a healthy environment is to reduce our energy usage where practical and recycle where local facilities allow. This helps us to reduce our day-to-day environmental impact and costs, and also provides for small productivity gains.
CASE STUDY
DFS
Product quality, attractive presentation and a welcoming in-store environment are crucial in retail. These requirements create particular challenges for retailers especially in energy usage and packaging waste. Furniture retailer DFS has 85 stores in the UK with plans to open another 15 by the end of 2012. DFS set out to improve the energy efficiency of its operations.
An LED lighting system was tested and is now being rolled out to all stores. Packaging materials, a source of waste, have been converted into a source of income through a creative recycling scheme.
DFS is already seeing the financial benefits of increased energy efficiency, recycling and improved environmental practice.
OUR INVOLVEMENT IN SOCIETY
We believe that personal choice and engagement bring the most benefits to both the employee and the cause they choose to support. We support Advent team members’ involvement in areas of social responsibility such as fundraising, voluntary work, mentoring, external appointments and memberships. In 2011 over 100 members of the Advent team took part in an endurance running relay raising enough funds to fully equip the newly built Mirebalais teaching hospital in Haiti. In addition our Boston office participates in “Year Up”, a community program helping young urban adults to reach their potential through mentoring and internships.
ADVENT IN THE COMMUNITY
HAITI IN CRISIS
On 12 January 2010, Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, suffered a devastating earthquake that destroyed the country’s only nursing school and left its sole public teaching hospital crippled. Amongst the many thousands killed, hundreds were medical students and teachers. With healthcare resources historically concentrated around Port-au-Prince, in one day, Haiti lost an entire class of health workers and their facilities.
“Much of what we are fortunate to take for granted in developed countries in healthcare had either never previously been available or was lost in the devastation of the earthquake. We feel privileged to have had the opportunity to share in PIH’s long-held commitment to the people of Haiti.“
- Humphrey Battcock, Advent International, London
A BEACON OF HOPE
Before the earthquake, Partners in Health (PIH), a non-profit Boston-based organization, that had long worked in Haiti, had planned to build a small hospital in Mirebalais, 30 miles north of Port-au-Prince, to improve healthcare access for the under-served rural communities.
After the quake, a dramatically scaled-up scheme became the focus of PIH’s efforts to rebuild the medical education system in the country. The new Mirebalais National Teaching Hospital would be a centre of excellence for the next generation of Haitian doctors and nurses, serving up to 500 outpatients a day and giving even the poorest patients free access to care
“During the past year, the Mirebalais Hospital project has seen tremendous progress – even in times of adversity. Its success is due in no small part to partners like Advent International, whose combined support has had a transformative impact on what PIH has been able to accomplish in Haiti following the earthquake.”
- Ophelia Dahl, Executive Director, Partners In Health
PARTNERING FOR RECOVERY
While PIH was able to go ahead with the construction of the much-enlarged hospital and residential teaching campus, funds were not in place to purchase the medical and operational equipment and supplies that would allow it to function.
A group of Advent team members initiated an ambitious fundraising effort. Over 100 employees from Advent’s offices worldwide converged on New York State in May 2011 to run a 200 mile relay in the Catskill Mountains over a 24 hour period. As part of the team building initiative, the individuals and team had a mission to raise funds for PIH. The aim was to fully equip Mirebalais’s new hospital, a goal the team more than achieved.
BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE
With the funds we raised, PIH has already purchased the equipment for several areas of the hospital including outpatient services, laboratories, operating rooms, in patient wards, dentistry, the NICU, pharmacy, staff rooms and the women’s clinic.
The first phase of the Mirebalais National Teaching hospital is expected to open in mid-2012. When fully operational, Mirebalais Hospital will serve as a state-of-the-art national public referral and teaching hospital and will be a compelling example of what is possible within the public healthcare sector in Haiti. Employing approximately 900 people, it is also likely to be a long-term positive economic development and community- building force.
OUR GOVERNANCE
Advent International Corporation (AIC) is a fund manager. The majority of Advent offices act as advisors to AIC, providing advice on the investment and divestment of portfolio companies.
AIC raises capital commitments privately for closed-end funds, from qualified institutional investors globally. These closed-end funds are typically a limited partnership in which investors are limited partners. AIC receives an annual fee for managing the funds and a share of any profits made.
REGULATION
AIC is regulated by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Where applicable, our advisory businesses are registered with their local regulator, such as the Financial Services Authority in the UK, and we abide by their rules and disclosure requirements.
RISK MANAGEMENT
AIC is advised by dedicated investment advisory committees of local senior partners and at least one partner from another region. This model ensures the consistent application of global Advent standards and helps to enhance cooperation and knowledge sharing between regions.
Each fund typically has a dedicated advisory committee of limited partner representatives who meet with us periodically to review the portfolio, discuss issues and opportunities and monitor certain actions.
A global compliance and risk management team led by our Chief Compliance Officer maintains policies and controls in this area and oversees our internal governance programs worldwide.
TALKING TO STAKEHOLDERS
We attend portfolio company board meetings and are in contact with management at least weekly and often several times a day. We also maintain a continuous dialogue with our limited partners who invest with us, and our portfolio companies, M&A intermediaries and the wider private equity community.
We provide our limited partners with regular communications on investment and exit activity and the progress of our portfolio companies. We send them quarterly fund financial reports, and hold an annual investor conference. Our investors can access information about our funds and their investments any time through a secure extranet.
TRANSPARENCY AND DISCLOSURE
We follow the guidelines on transparency and disclosure for private equity firms produced by the Walker Working Group in the UK and the BVK Large Buyout Group in Germany.
For additional disclosures on investment activities in the UK and Germany that fall within these guidelines, please go to www.adventinternational.co.uk and www.adventinternational.de respectively.
We provide regular information to trade associations to assist them in analyzing the economic role and contribution of the private equity industry.
IMPROVING PORTFOLIO COMPANY GOVERNANCE
Good corporate governance is at the heart of our value creation plans. We work in close partnership with our management teams and take our responsibilities seriously. We are consistently thinking about how we can drive long-term improvements.
We encourage our portfolio companies to adopt appropriate corporate governance practices in line with established best practices and local legal and regulatory requirements.