An investor perspective on the impact of ESG issues on mergers & acquisitions transactions

Particularly expedited by the Covid-19 pandemic, the topic of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) aspects of a business has been extensively covered across the media, events and conferences in the past few months. Sustainability is very high on the agenda, both for companies and investors. However, is it really a brand-new concept? ESG, in some form or another, has been around for many decades. As Aswath Damodaran, Professor at Stern School of Business at New York University, points out in one of his article on ESG, corporate governance was discussed extensively in the early 2000s. What is different now though, is the increased attention on environmental (climate change, biodiversity loss) and social issues (raising inequality) – in-turn driving up the focus and enhanced scrutiny on ESG. Regardless of what one thinks about ESG - is it just a fad or a fundamental shift in how businesses are run going forward? - one thing is certain – it cannot be ignored. In this article, we set out considerations for investors as to how ESG issues might impact Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) transactions.