NEW YORK – Blackstone Group Inc announced on Tuesday that it will pay US$1.4 billion to private equity company Genstar Capital for Sphera, a provider of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) software, data, and consulting services. 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./n
