Partnership to advance GRESB’s continued
leadership in global ESG benchmarking to support transition to
sustainable real assets
Existing shareholder Summit Partners to retain
minority stake in GRESB
GRESB, a leading global provider of sustainability standards and
benchmarks for real assets, today announced a majority investment
from General Atlantic, a leading global growth equity firm, through
the firm’s BeyondNetZero climate growth fund. General Atlantic will
acquire its stake from existing shareholder Summit Partners, which
will retain a minority position in GRESB following close of the
transaction. GRESB intends to partner with General Atlantic to
support its next phase of growth through strategic expansion and
product innovation and to accelerate impact across financial
markets.
Founded in 2009, GRESB provides sustainability standards,
benchmarks, and actionable insights for real assets. General
Atlantic’s majority investment and partnership are a testament to
the alignment of vision and shared values between the two
organizations. With this investment, GRESB will remain an
independent Benefit Corporation, expanding its support to a global
community of real asset investors, managers, and partners. The
affiliated not-for-profit GRESB Foundation will continue to provide
industry-led strategic direction and governance over the GRESB
Standards. The GRESB management team will reinvest into the company
and continue its ongoing work driving GRESB’s growth and impact.
General Atlantic’s investment aims to allow GRESB to expand its
work on transition finance, fixed income, the REAL Solutions family
of services, and more.
Sebastien Roussotte, Chief Executive Officer, GRESB, commented,
“GRESB looks forward to contributing to BeyondNetZero’s vision for
climate action powered by technology, innovation, and
entrepreneurship. This vision underpins GRESB’s industry-led
approach to creating global standards that increase market
transparency and accelerate the clean energy transition.”
Rhea Hamilton, Managing Director at General Atlantic’s
BeyondNetZero, said, “GRESB has established itself as the industry
standard for benchmarking across real assets. With buildings and
real estate accounting for 40 percent of global greenhouse
emissions, data is key to unlocking the opportunity to deliver
net-zero, resilient assets. We believe GRESB’s management of
asset-level data and compelling value proposition deepen the
Company’s position as an enabler of decarbonization for investors
and asset managers. We share GRESB’s conviction in accelerating the
global transition to sustainable real assets and look forward to
partnering with the Company’s mission-driven team.”
Tom Hussey, Principal at General Atlantic, continued, “GRESB
delivers standardization and comparability across the real assets
ecosystem, encouraging all participants to measure and improve ESG
credentials. We believe that the Company is backed by long-term
tailwinds as decarbonization and ESG benchmarking become core
metrics for LP portfolios. We intend to leverage General Atlantic’s
expertise at the intersection of innovative data, technology, and
climate solutions to support GRESB in its continued expansion and
product development.”
“We have been proud to work alongside Sebastien and the entire
GRESB team to support the company’s significant growth and
expansion over the last four years,” said Johannes Grefe, Managing
Director at Summit Partners. “We believe GRESB’s commitment to
providing industry leading ESG data and benchmarking solutions will
continue to play a pivotal role in driving sustainable investment
practices worldwide,” added Chris Bon, Principal at Summit
Partners.
GRESB benchmarks and insights are generated from data
self-reported through annual assessments for standing real estate
investments, real estate projects in development, infrastructure
funds, and infrastructure assets – both operational and in various
stages of development. Each year, GRESB publishes global aggregated
benchmark data that highlights the state and continued progress of
ESG in the industry. The GRESB Standards, upon which its benchmarks
are based, evolve over time based on input from industry
representatives who sit on and work with the GRESB Foundation. This
ensures that assessments are guided by what investors and the
industry consider to be material issues and that scores reflect
evolving sustainability expectations.
Through its assessments, benchmarks, and related products, GRESB
enables investors to make more informed decisions; empowers
companies, managers, and asset operators to improve their
sustainability rating through ESG insights and best practices; and
encourages the wider real assets industry to embrace and promote
ESG transparency and collective action.
The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals. Moelis
served as financial advisor to Summit Partners, and Milbank served
as legal advisor. Weil Gotshal and De Brauw acted as legal advisors
to General Atlantic.
About GRESB
GRESB is a mission-driven, industry-led organization providing
standardized and validated Environmental, Social, and Governance
(ESG) data to financial markets. Established in 2009, GRESB has
become the leading benchmark for sustainable real estate and
infrastructure investments across the world, used by 150
institutional and financial investors to inform decision-making.
The annual GRESB benchmarks include more than 2,000 real estate
portfolios and funds as well as more than 170 infrastructure funds
and nearly 700 infrastructure assets, collectively representing USD
8.8 trillion in gross asset value.
About General Atlantic and BeyondNetZero
General Atlantic is a leading global growth investor with more
than four decades of experience providing capital and strategic
support for over 500 growth companies throughout its history.
Established in 1980 to partner with visionary entrepreneurs and
deliver lasting impact, the firm combines a collaborative global
approach, sector specific expertise, a long-term investment horizon
and a deep understanding of growth drivers to partner with great
entrepreneurs and management teams to scale innovative businesses
around the world. BeyondNetZero is the climate growth fund of
General Atlantic that invests in growth companies delivering
innovative climate solutions that have the potential to meet and
exceed net-zero emissions targets, with a focus on decarbonization,
energy efficiency, resource conservation and emissions management.
General Atlantic has approximately $83 billion in assets under
management inclusive of all products as of December 31, 2023, and
more than 280 investment professionals. For more information on
General Atlantic, please visit: www.generalatlantic.com.
About Summit Partners
Founded in 1984, Summit Partners is a global alternative
investment firm with capital dedicated to growth equity, fixed
income and public equity opportunities. Summit invests across
growth sectors of the economy and has invested in more than 550
companies in technology, healthcare and other growth industries.
Summit maintains offices in North America and Europe and invests in
companies around the world. For more information, please see
www.summitpartners.com or follow on LinkedIn.
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Media
GRESB Tyler Guthrie Director of Communications, GRESB
t.guthrie@gresb.com
General Atlantic Emily Japlon, Sara Widmann, & Jake Barnette
media@generalatlantic.com
Summit Partners Meg Devine Chief Marketing Officer
mdevine@summitpartners.com