A long-term investor
Wendel is a hands-on investor and shareholder that assists sector-leading companies in their long-term development. Wendel's business model combines the entrepreneurial passion born of a long family tradition with a culture of performance and accountability.
Sustainable development
MAKING A COMMITMENT TO CREATE SUSTAINABLE VALUE
Wendel’s sustainable development policy applies to its own operations and its role as a community citizen; it is also interpreted and applied by its companies
© Maider López, Éclats, Centre Pompidou-Metz
A natural extension of our role as a long-term investor.
As part of the procedure for evaluating its investment opportunities, Wendel conducts an overall analysis of risks related to the businesses of the company under consideration, during which it examines the environmental and social issues involved. In each of the companies in which Wendel is a shareholder, the management teams bear direct responsibility for the challenges and consequences related to sustainable development.Nevertheless, as a professional shareholder, Wendel monitors and encourages the sustainable development policies of its subsidiaries and associated companies.
For example, owing to its two seats on Bureau Veritas’ Audit and Risks Committee, Wendel attentively monitors potential security, environmental and corruption risks. Wendel’s management is particularly attentive to indicators of workplace safety and security, which it considers an excellent proxy for how well the management team runs the company.
At Materis, the accident frequency rate is one of the criteria for determining management’s variable compensation. At Wendel’s request, Stahl’s Board of Directors has been tracking this indicator since 2006, when Stahl joined the Wendel Group. Wendel Group companies translate their sustainable development policies into action plans that take into account the company’s specific characteristics and maturity in the field. Wendel’s companies take sustainable development into account in their business models. For example, environmental impact is integrated into the design of their products and services.
Bureau Veritas provides its customers with solutions for constant operational improvement in the areas of hygiene, healthcare, safety, security and the environment. Parcours encourages its customers to adopt an environmental approach by including advanced features in its long-term leasing services, such as the teaching of eco-driving skills to its customers’ employees. For the aeronautical industry, Deutsch has designed a new range of connectors for aluminum cables that help lighten aircraft and reduce fuel consumption. Eighty percent of Stahl’s products are now designed without solvents.
Materis’s strategy is to develop innovative products that introduce new functions and are longer lasting – and therefore more respectful of the environment during their life cycle – and meet French “high environmental quality” (HQE) standards. Nearly 80% of Legrand’s R&D centers contribute to the development of products whose performance is high from an environmental standpoint.
Finally, 30% of Saint-Gobain’s sales and 40% of its operating income are linked to energysaving solutions or solutions producing clean energy and thereby protecting the environment. Our listed companies, Saint-Gobain, Legrand and Bureau Veritas, publish exhaustive CSR data in their annual activity or sustainable development reports. For Bureau Veritas, Deutsch, Materis, Stahl, Mecatherm and Parcours, of which Wendel is the majority shareholder, highlights of their sustainable development policies are presented in Wendel’s Registration Document. In 2009, Wendel signed the charter of the AFIC, the French association of private equity firms. It is a public commitment to a set of responsibilities regarding the promotion of sustainable development.
Wendel is a community player
Wendel’s commitment to the community is reflected in its support of projects in the higher education and cultural spheres. In addition to providing financial support spread over several years, Wendel contributes actively to the development of its partner institutions. Frederic Lemoine represents the Group on the Board of Directors of Insead and the Board of Directors of Centre Pompidou-Metz.
Limited environmental footprint
Wendel monitors its environmental management, even though its own activities have little impact on the environment. The Group also works to promote greater awareness of environmental issues among all its employees in their day-to-day work. For example, in 2011, a waste sorting policy was introduced.
An employer that looks after its talent
Wendel offers its employees the best working environment possible and fosters their career development. Enhancing the employability of its employees is a priority for the Company. Wendel promotes training: over half of its staff received training outside the company in 2011.
The Company also strives to help its employees achieve a balance between their professional and personal lives. Since 2010, it has been making every effort to obtain and fund day-care for the young children of employees who submit a request. To date, Wendel has satisfied every request from its employees for one or more places in a daycare facility, thereby offering this service to 14% of its workforce.
For more detailed information on this topic, see Wendel’s 2011 Registration Document, section 2.2 “Sustainable Development”.
