Staff of Reuters 2 minutes ReadFILE PHOTO: On the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the ticker and trading details for Blackstone Group are displayed at the post where it is traded on April 4, 2016. Brendan McDermid/Reuters (Source: Reuters) In a $1.4 billion agreement, Blackstone Group Inc will buy Sphera, a supplier of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) software, analytics, and consulting services, from private equity firm Genstar Capital. Sphera, situated in Chicago, Illinois, has over 3,000 customers and operates in over 100 countries. Its services let businesses to track and manage their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance and risk exposure. As investors and lawmakers around the world increasingly probe firms about their environmental and social effect, large global businesses are being pushed to make considerable investments in their ESG programs, Blackstone has been working to improve its ESG credentials. Reuters reported in early May that the private equity behemoth had requested CEOs in its portfolio companies to report on their ESG problems to their boards for the first time. “A key thematic investing emphasis for Blackstone is the increasing importance of ESG problems to firms globally,” said Eli Nagler, senior managing director at Blackstone. Sohini Podder contributed reporting from Bengaluru, and Shinjini Ganguli edited the piece./n
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