Arcus constantly strives to improve environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards across our portfolio companies. Arcus is a signatory to the UNPRI, the UK Stewardship Code and UN Global Compact (“UNGC”) as well as a member of the Global ESG Benchmark for Real Assets (GRESB).

In 2020, for the fourth consecutive year, Arcus European Infrastructure Fund 1 (‘AEIF1’) was ranked first of the European Diversified Infrastructure Funds (against 23 peers) in the GRESB Infrastructure Assessment, an industry-wide ESG benchmark.  AEIF1 scored 95 out of 100 possible points (compared to 87/100 in 2019). The fund was also named Global Diversified Fund Sector Leader.

Arcus’ most recently raised fund, Arcus European Infrastructure Fund 2 (‘AEIF2′), with smaller and less mature assets, showed significant improvement in 2020, with 86 out of 100 points (compared to 62/100 in 2019) and ranked 3rd in the European diversified fund peer group.

Additionally,  the Tivana Investor Vehicles (the TDF holding partnerships) ranking first of the 75 infrastructure funds which completed the full GRESB assessment, scoring 96 out of 100 possible points (compared to 77/100 in 2019) while the average GRESB fund score was 65 out of 100. This strong score also meant Tivana has been named GRESB Infrastructure Sector Leader for European Funds and Sector Specific (Non-renewables).

For the underlying Arcus investee companies, the highlights in 2020 include the results of the Brisa, GTC, Swiss4net and TDF assessments which came first in European motorway network, European motorway, Fibre networks and Data transmission/Telecom towers respectively.

Overall, all Arcus assets scored well when benchmarked against their peers and all six reporting assets received a 5-star rating.

We believe that high quality infrastructure is critical to Europe’s future economic growth, as well as its social progression and environmental protection. As an owner and manager of sizable and strategically important businesses, ESG considerations are at the forefront of our thinking in each stage of the investment process.

By continually monitoring and improving ESG factors throughout the investment ownership period, we eliminate risks and create stronger, more sustainable businesses that contribute more to the societies in which they operate and are ultimately more valuable businesses. This virtuous cycle enables us to support the ESG objectives and deliver better returns for the pension plans and investment trusts that form our investor base.

The Arcus ESG policy is available below.