Burton Flynn WG14 and Ivan Nechunaev WG19 have found themselves searching all over the world — quite literally — in their exhaustive hunt for emerging-markets investments.
“As professor Chris Geczy teaches in his impact investing class, selective ESG topics can provide signals for identifying high-performing investments,” write Flynn and Nechunaev for Wharton Magazine. “To capitalize on these signals, we ask each company to complete a proprietary ESG due-diligence questionnaire focused on those topics. Our analysis has shown that ESG recommendations, particularly those related to investor transparency, create a positive feedback loop that enhances returns. While advising portfolio companies on improving investor communication and transparency, we have found that those with the brightest prospects are most likely to follow our advice, thus amplifying the impact of our recommendations.”