How do we engage for impact?
There's a dual purpose to our engagement and voting with portfolio companies:
- To generate additional insights into company practices, which then feed into investment decisions.
- To influence positive improvements in portfolio companies, which we refer to as WHEB's 'investor contribution' in our impact framework.
With an average holding period of 4-7 years for our investments, our view is inherently longer-term than investment industry averages. This means we naturally act as owners of portfolio companies, rather than short-term traders.
Our engagement activity with portfolio companies is mostly proactive, based on strategic objectives and is often carried out over several years. Where necessary, we use escalation tactics or collaborate with other investors to achieve desired results.
How we leverage our voting rights
We view our voting rights as equity holders as an opportunity to exercise a progressive influence on company governance and strategy. WHEB’s policy is to exercise our rights at 100% of company meetings where we're eligible to vote.
Our voting is guided by our policies, which are intended to promote long-term value for shareholders and mitigate risk at portfolio companies.
We publish full voting records quarterly that detail every shareholder resolution on which WHEB is eligible to vote, how we voted and a rationale for our decision.
Transparent stewardship
In our Stewardship Reports we tell you about the policies and processes that direct WHEB’s stewardship activities. These reports also document the extensive work we’ve done with portfolio companies over the year to encourage them to improve their environmental, social and governance (ESG) and impact practices.
We use the full suite of tools at our disposal, including:
- Voting at portfolio company meetings
- Engaging bilaterally with companies
- Escalating engagement to work collaboratively with like-minded parties
- Divesting and publicly reporting our reasons for doing so
Our Stewardship Reports provide summary data of the work undertaken in the previous year, detailed case studies that illustrate our decision-making processes and the impact that we have via our ‘investor contribution’.
Sustainability Policies
We are pleased to share our Stewardship and engagement and Voting policies.
Our Stewardship and engagement policy is aligned with the UK’s Stewardship Code and details WHEB’s purpose and governance, our investment approach, as well as voting and engagement activities.
Our proxy voting policy are intended to promote long-term shareholder value creation and risk mitigation at portfolio firms through support for responsible global corporate governance practices.