SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 30, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- White Oak Global Advisors, LLC (“White Oak” or “the Firm”) today announced it has entered a formal partnership with the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (“SASB”), a global nonprofit founded to help businesses around the world identify, manage and report on a wide range of sustainability issues. This partnership will enable White Oak to incorporate SASB’s standards into its ESG research and underwriting processes for prospective credit issuance.
“After careful review of several ESG evaluation standards, we determined that SASB has developed the gold standard globally for evaluating companies’ sustainability data, and we are pleased to further formalize our ESG risk management and underwriting processes by leveraging SASB standards as a baseline,” said White Oak’s Chief Executive Officer Andre Hakkak. “This partnership underscores White Oak’s commitment to ensuring our underlying business processes create a variety of attractive ESG-compliant credit investment opportunities.”
White Oak will also leverage SASB’s extensive membership and insights network to continue the firm’s existing ESG employee education efforts. Most recently, through that program 27 White Oak professionals completed the PRI Academy’s Fundamentals of Responsible Investing (RI) course. Since its founding, White Oak and its affiliates have originated over $8 billion in direct lending opportunities, over a third of which have been directed toward ESG and impact-oriented investments in the U.S. middle market.
“We view our adoption of the sustainability accounting standards as a continuation of our extensive efforts to create a private credit industry that benefits both borrowers and investors,” said Terésa Cutter, Managing Director and Head of ESG & Impact at White Oak. “We’re focused on providing non-predatory loans and working together with borrowers – rather than taking control of governance – to successfully guide them to profitability and our investors to attractive returns.”
The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board developed the first and only global standard that focuses on financially material information in relation to companies’ sustainability data, which has been adopted by hundreds of companies around the world. Global investors with over $48 trillion in assets under management have committed to upholding SASB standards with operations in over 170 countries.
About White Oak
White Oak Global Advisors, LLC is a leading global alternative asset manager specializing in originating and providing financing solutions to facilitate the growth, refinancing and recapitalization of small and medium enterprises. Since its inception in 2007, White Oak’s disciplined investment process aims to deliver risk-adjusted investment returns for our investors while establishing long term partnerships with our borrowers. More information can be found at www.whiteoaksf.com or please contact InvestorRelations@whiteoaksf.com.
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