Hg Capital - 1792 Exchange

Rating Overview

Hg Capital is Medium Risk.

Hg Capital is Medium Risk. The company often yields to political activism in shaping corporate governance, potentially alienating consumers, dividing employees, and harming shareholders. The company implements race and identity-based policies that replace merit, excellence, and integrity with preferential treatment and outcomes. Hg Capital occasionally embraces corporate initiatives that redirect its central focus from business goals to partisan policies and divisive issues at times. This approach fails to safeguard free exercise, free speech, and free enterprise.

Rating Criteria

Corporate Weaponization Risk Levels
Criteria	Risk Level
Cancellations	Medium Risk
Discriminatory Philanthropy	Lower Risk
Employment Protection	High Risk

Corporate Weaponization ⓘ

Corporate Governance and Public Policy Risk Levels
Criteria	Risk Level
Advocacy Bias	High Risk
Funding	Lower Risk
Political Actions	No Data

Corporate Governance and Public Policy ⓘ

Rating Criteria Detail

Criteria Risk Level Rationale

Corporate Weaponization

Criteria:

Has canceled customers, suppliers, or vendors due to their political views or religious beliefs OR corporately boycotts, divests, or sanctions regions, people groups, or industries.

Risk Level:

Medium

Rationale:

Hg Capital Integrates ESG into its business practices and vets its suppliers on this basis. From its Supplier Code of Conduct: “Hg suppliers must have in place policies and procedures to identify the direct and indirect environmental impact associated with the goods and services provided to Hg. They must also seek to minimize or mitigate their impact on the environment. Data relating to these impacts (such as carbon emissions) and mitigations must be made available to Hg upon request” (1). The company is a signatory of the Principles for Responsible Investment, incorporating ESG issues into investment analysis, decision-making, and other business practices (2)(3). However, the company has not publicly canceled customers, suppliers, or vendors based on political views or religious beliefs (4).

Criteria:

Charitable giving (including employee matching programs) policies or practices discriminate against charitable organizations based on views or religious beliefs.

Risk Level:

Lower

Rationale:

The Hg Foundation does not appear to discriminate against charitable organizations based on views or beliefs. The company’s charitable giving focus areas are “women and girls, under represented ethinic groups, low income individuals, and other disadvantaged people” (1)(2).

Criteria:

Employment policies fail to protect against viewpoint or other discrimination and/or are ideological in nature.

Risk Level:

High

Rationale:

Hg Capital offers Inclusive Leadership training to its senior leadership (1). The company appears to prioritize diversity over merit in its business structure through the establishment of gender targets for its leadership composition, and ethnic targets for its employees. The company sought “30% female executives by March 2020” which it achieved and raised to 35% in 2021. It also “achieved 23% ethnic diversity across its UK and US offices” (2). The company does not publish a nondiscrimination policy (3).

Corporate Governance and Public Policy

Criteria:

Uses corporate reputation to support causes, organizations, or policies hostile to freedom of expression.

Risk Level:

High

Rationale:

Hg is a signatory of the Institutional Limited Partners Association’s Diversity in Action Initiative, committing itself to specific actions that advance DEI within the governance and policies of the organization and the private equity industry more broadly (1)(2)(3). The company supports ESG within its business practices. From its Responsible Investing Report: “In early 2023, we introduced an ESG Board sponsor program, asking portfolio companies to designate a Board-level ESG sponsor. This sponsor serves as an advocate for ESG, facilitating regular discussions on ESG topics and providing the Board with appropriate oversight of the business’ ESG strategy and policies (4). The company supports DEI within its business practices. From its Responsible Investing Report: “Hg has woven Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) into the fabric of our business practices” (5). Hg was part of the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative prior to NZAM’s suspension in 2025. Its membership indicated a commitment to carbon neutrality with its investments by 2050 (6)(7)(8). The company is committed to net zero emissions by 2050 (9).