Holtara: Apex Group Driving Real Change in ESG Investing

There is no doubting the increased scrutiny of ESG corporate claims.

As public and shareholder interest into ESG issues continues to rise, greenwashing lawsuits proliferate, and the regulatory landscape evolves – companies face tighter inspection on the claims they make when it comes ESG (environment, social, governance).

Rolling out over the next few years, various game-changing reporting regulations including the SEC disclosure ruling in the US aims at enhancing and standardising corporate climate-related disclosures for investors and other stakeholders – not to mention, marking an important step forward in prevention of greenwashing.

In this ever-evolving landscape, all companies will need to get more serious about their ESG commitments, ensuring they are meaningful – and deliver real change.

In accelerating support of the investment industry on this journey, global financial services giant Apex Group has launched a new ESG and sustainability services company.

Apex Group Brand Holtara to Drive Meaningful Change

Backed by the strength of Apex Group with US$3 trillion in assets serviced and 13,000 people across 50 countries, new sustainability services brand Holtara brings together the Group’s ESG solution and MJ Hudson, acquired by Apex last October.

First launched in 2019, Apex Group’s pioneering ESG solution (Ratings and Advisory) already services more than 400 GPs and LPs and has assessed over 3,400 investment managers and companies globally.

In merging with asset management service provider MJ Hudson’s high-growth ESG and Sustainability advisory services and platform, new brand Holtara will help investors, asset managers and corporates set meaningful targets and identify improvement pathways.

Described by Apex Group CEO Peter Hughes as “an important milestone in our ESG journey as a Group”, Holtara will deliver “a powerful offering driven by a combination of people and platform.

Holtara Promises to Help Clients Implement ‘Real Change’

Armed with a 150-strong specialist team, and led by new Head of ESG Product Emma Bickerstaffe, Holtara looks to move “beyond the ESG ‘tick-box approach’ and help clients implement real change”, according to Bickerstaffe.

“Recent years have seen greater political and shareholder scrutiny of ESG claims, resulting in the urgent need for accurate data, transparent reporting and meaningful sustainability commitments,” she says.

Combining a people and platform approach, Holtara was set up to ensure ESG can stand up to such scrutiny, Bickerstaffe adds.

Leveraging one of the largest private-market ESG data sources, Holtara works with clients to determine material ESG themes for their portfolios, benchmark and compare their performance to like companies and funds, set realistic ESG commitments, and prioritise initiatives to improve performance.

Focused on topics ranging from carbon to climate, DEI to supply chain, Holtara enables the Apex Group to “empower the private markets to both achieve their financial goals, while making a positive impact on the world around them”, says Hughes.

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