We help clients extract value from doing good business regardless of where they are in their business cycle:
– start-up phase, i.e. raising funds, implementing Risk Management Systems, implementing Risk Management Systems, obtaining licenses or permits, hiring staff or designing data & monitoring systems, or
– operational phase, through enhancing efficiencies at portfolio company level and complying with monitoring and reporting requirements of investors or lenders, or
– transactional advisory, i.e. enhancing shareholder returns during M&A, listing, exit stage, bond issuance or any other corporate finance activity.
Fundraising
Impact Investor Fundraising
EBS Advisory acts as a broker and strategic advisor for several Private Equity and Impact funds. We assist our clients in quantifying and articulating their impact to investors, preparing for fundraising and broadening the funding base — ultimately lowering their cost of capital and improving their opportunities for reaching their first close.
Fundraising Support
Today ESG is not a nice to have when raising money – Banks, DFI’s, Pension Funds, Fund of Funds, Family Offices — all now require a solid ESG program as a basic requirement before agreeing to any investment. Since 2015, EBS has assisted over 20 GP’s and Corporates prepare for fundraising roadshows by developing Annual Reports, ESG reports, ESG management systems, coaching of management and pipeline analysis.
In some cases, we have reduced the cost of debt by as much as 3% (absolute terms in USD). In all cases we have enhanced the likelihood of a first close by broadening the funding base and been able to meet LP’s and Banks requirements by pre-empting their side-letter requirements. Call us for our references and find out what we can do to help you reach that final close.
Managing ESG Risk and Compliance
ESG Due Diligence Investigations
We provide the technical and risk assessment qualification of ESG liabilities and risks associated with proposed projects and expansions of existing projects. These studies are performed according to best international practice, as required by the IFC, Equator Principles and World Bank Standards.
Design and Implementation of Social, Environmental & Governance Management Systems
Including drafting of policies, procedures, Management Plans (EMPs) to clients’ requirements, making recommendations with regards to monitoring and measurement, Gap Analysis Studies, Assessment Audits, Pre-certification Audits and Consultation, and independent reviews of the effectiveness of your SEMS against internal requirements, ISO 14001, OHSAS 18001, ISO 9001 and/or ISO 26000.
Portfolio Review
An ESG review is required at portfolio level to ensure that there is adherence to required policies and procedures to ensure compliance to investor requirements. A portfolio review can evaluate to what extent these policies and procedures have been implemented, providing guidance on how to close the gaps observed and implementing training to ensure implementation as required.
Legal Compliance
All investments need to ensure legal compliance to both local, national and international standards. Due to our regional offices, we maintain a full database of available ESG legislation for most jurisdictions in Africa. A legal review will guide an investor on which ESG issues are legally binding, and a legal compliance audit will determine levels of compliance against any applicable ESG legislation.
ESG Liability Determination and Insurance
Through our association with Hollard and Itoo, speciality liability underwriters (www.itoo.co.za), our clients are able to obtain bespoke insurance solutions for environmental, health and safety and public health liabilities. This is especially relevant to pollution clean up costs, spillages during transport, contaminated land, M&A involving property transfer, ecological restoration and legal defence costs.
Project Management
EBS is available to provide oversight and strategic guidance on projects to ensure corporate or lender requirements are met, that there is alignment with strategic objectives during project implementation, and that risks and liabilities associated with ESG are managed during project conceptualisation, development, implementation and commissioning.
Contaminated Land
EBS provides the technical and risk quantification of environmental liabilities to assist our clients not
only in the identification of these risks but also in quantification of any residual environmental
liability, and the implementation of strategies to minimise their exposure to such risks.
Our services in this area include:
- Environmental and Social Risk Assessment (ESRA) and Risk-Based Corrective Action
(RBCA); - ASTM Phase I and Phase II Environmental Site Assessment (ESA);
- Groundwater contamination assessment;
- Remediation investigation and implementation;
- Monitoring and reporting of remedial interventions, and
- Recommending appropriate design changes, monitoring regimes and systems.
SMART Certification
EBS is Africa’s first SMART accredited certifier, enabling us to now offer our clients certification
against international best practice, married with our deep local insight of African financial.
Too many African MFI’s and banks have had their share price or ability to raise capital negatively
impacted by claims of exploitative lending practices. The Customer Protection Principles of the
SMART Campaign (https://www.smartcampaign.org/) promote transparency in pricing, avoids over-
borrowing, respectful debt collection and high ethical standards.
EBS is honoured to be associated with the campaign and offer, the following services:
- Training on the benefits of incorporating customer protection principles;
- Preparation for certification by another certification body;
- SMART certification, and
- SMART surveillance audits.
Resettlement Services
We ensure compliance with IFC Performance Standard 5, through census surveys, stakeholder engagement, quantification and compensation negotiation with stakeholders, Due Diligence, Relocation Project Design and Management.
Adding Value
Impact Modelling
As the only institutional investor class which is taking a view on the SME sector in emerging markets, private equity investors are at the cutting edge of job creation, skills development and diversification of the tax base. The majority of private equity fund money coming into Africa comes from developmental partners, developmental banks and impact-oriented family offices and high net worth individuals. Whereas fund managers have excellent teams and tools to express their commercial returns, they haven’t even started the journey of beginning to tell very positive story of the social and societal impact as a result of their investments. EBS is leading the field in pioneering new ways to credibly optimise returns to investors who include impact in their NPV calculations.
Labour and Employee Engagement
Our research shows that, on average, average labour output in Africa as a percentage of capacity, is approximately 30%. Through our partnership with the ILO, we have developed a variety of governance and social impact tools to enhance labour productivity, lower strike prevalence, absenteeism and headline risk.
Resource Efficiency and Cleaner Production Studies
Our environmental scientists, engineers and financial modellers combine to offer our clients cutting-edge Waste, Water and Energy Surveys to identify Pollution Reduction, Recycling and Recovery opportunities
Supply Chain
EBS, through our partnerships in China and elsewhere, are able to perform cost-effective and discrete Supply Chain audits, training and support. Outputs include ethical and reputation risks, carbon and resource “hot-spot” identification and identify pricing or inefficiency vulnerabilities in the supply chain.
ESG Recruitment
We assist clients with sourcing and placing ESG staff to meet investor or lender requirements, at a 31% average cost saving over normal recruitment agencies, and with guaranteed performance & immediate efficacy.
Governance
EBS are specialists in advising and implementing management measures to comply with and derive value from appropriate governance strategies. These include:
– Chairing of Social and ethics Committees
– Governance training
– Gap Analysis against King IV and other leading Governance Frameworks
– Human Rights Surveys in Supply Chain Procurement Policies
– ABAC, AML and complying with UK Bribery Act
– Proxy Voting analysis and policies
– CRISA and UNPRI systems and codes/policies
– BBBEE and indigenisation in general
Geographic Information Systems
Use of GIS and mapping means spatially-complex decisions can be analysed and presented in an easy
to understand fashion, especially when considering remote, large or scattered operations. EBS has
in-house GIS expertise with 30+ years of proven ability to integrate spatial data into the investment
process and portfolio management.
We provide the following:
- advanced screening and analytical models of potential investment opportunities, making use
of spatial-temporal GIS data. - spatial planning & development frameworks,
- sensitive and protected area mapping,
- opportunity and constraints analysis and
- cost benefit modelling.
Climate Change and Climate-Aware Investing
Despite Trump’s best efforts, International DFI’s, Banks, Pension Funds and Family Offices are
tightening their policies on climate change to protect against, and ideally avoid, stranded assets in
their portfolios.
EBS understands how climate-aware investing is possible without compromising investment returns,
and offer the following:
- Pre-Investment risk identification;
- Carbon Sequestration calculations for forestry and agricultural assets;
- Green bonds and climate bond applications & audits;
- Adaptation planning;
- Carbon foot-printing and CDP reporting, and
- Water foot-printing and reporting.
Monitoring Services
EBS can assist in monitoring social, environmental and occupational health impacts in terms of a
legal compliance framework (legislation), but also to meet investor requirements (IFC sector-specific
guidelines and good international industry practice).
Types of monitoring undertaken include:
- Automated ambient air quality (particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and
climatic variables); - Active air quality sampling for assessment of occupational exposure;
- Noise monitoring;
- Surface and groundwater quality monitoring, and
- Soil sampling, including the ability to detect a wide range of volatile organic and petroleum
compounds.
Air Quality Modelling
EBS has the capacity to provide air quality modelling which can be utilised to determine impacts
associated with pollutants, both current and planned.
These software tools can also be utilised in verifying sources of health risk to airborne pollutants, as
well as adjustments to plant design and layout, to reduce impacts associated with stack downwash.
Impacts associated with complex terrain in the area of a development can also be evaluated. EBS
advisory has experience with air quality modeling in various sectors including:
- Transport logistics;
- Manufacturing;
- Heavy industry;
- Beneficiation activities associated with agricultural production and
- Mining and construction operations.
Communications
Sustainability and Annual Integrated Reporting
Strategic communications related to work done in the ESG space is important to track performance against objectives, and to communicate key successes and lessons learned in the business during the implementation of ESG considerations. Key tools deployed to do this are the sustainability or integrated report at Fund Manager or Corporate level. EBS provides guidance on how to define corporate strategy around this aspect, and then together with the company assists with the development of reports to tell the companies whole story of shared value, in accordance with international reporting standards (GRI, AA1000, UNPRI, IIRC, King IV, etc.). Our award-winning clients include over 20 listed African companies in Botswana, South Africa, Swaziland, Kenya and Namibia. A reference list is available on request.
Water Crisis Communications
Water Crisis Communications: EBS Advisory has partnered with Grant Thornton’s Tourism division to help Cape Town business communicate responses to Day Zero.