Bencis' sustainability journey so far
Founded in 1999, Bencis Capital Partners is a leading private equity firm operating in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany. Bencis focuses on investing in mid-sized businesses with the aim of creating sustainable, long-term value. The firm is guided by a strong belief that success is not solely measured by financial outcomes but also by how well businesses contribute to broader environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals.
According to Lizzy Peijs, Compliance Officer and Legal Counsel at Bencis, "Our goal has always been to make progress on all aspects of value – sustainability included. We've seen that employee health and wellbeing, for instance, can significantly improve a business by the time of exit."
Bencis has a well-established ESG strategy, being an early signatory of the UN Principles for Responsible Investment (UN PRI) and collecting ESG data at the portfolio company level since 2014 with the help of external ESG consultants.
The challenge: enhancing existing ESG expertise with scalable technology
In order to move from static ESG reporting to actionable sustainability improvement strategies, Bencis sought to complement their existing ESG consultant relationships with technology that would empower portfolio companies to build internal capabilities. Working alongside their external consultant firm, Bencis recognized that the existing software platform created barriers rather than bridges between expert guidance and practical implementation.
The previous technology solution was not user-friendly, did not offer the level of support required, and made it challenging to aggregate ESG data from each of the 29 portfolio companies at the fund level. As Lizzy noted,
"We were using a platform that just didn't meet our growing needs. We needed better usability for our portfolio companies and more flexible reporting capabilities at the fund level."
Critically, Bencis wanted to preserve the valuable expertise of their ESG consultants while enabling portfolio companies to develop complementary in-house capabilities. "It was always mandatory to report data, but we hadn't enforced target-setting," said Lizzy. "Now we're moving toward making improvements and building that buy-in – and we need a tool that works seamlessly with our consulting partners to support that shift."
Read the full case study...
To find out how Bencis Capital Partners and KEY ESG rolled-out a strategic partnership which enabled consultant-technology collaboration and built in-house ESG capabilities across its portfolio, read the full case study here.
Bencis' sustainability journey so far
Founded in 1999, Bencis Capital Partners is a leading private equity firm operating in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany. Bencis focuses on investing in mid-sized businesses with the aim of creating sustainable, long-term value. The firm is guided by a strong belief that success is not solely measured by financial outcomes but also by how well businesses contribute to broader environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals.
According to Lizzy Peijs, Compliance Officer and Legal Counsel at Bencis, "Our goal has always been to make progress on all aspects of value – sustainability included. We've seen that employee health and wellbeing, for instance, can significantly improve a business by the time of exit."
Bencis has a well-established ESG strategy, being an early signatory of the UN Principles for Responsible Investment (UN PRI) and collecting ESG data at the portfolio company level since 2014 with the help of external ESG consultants.
The challenge: enhancing existing ESG expertise with scalable technology
In order to move from static ESG reporting to actionable sustainability improvement strategies, Bencis sought to complement their existing ESG consultant relationships with technology that would empower portfolio companies to build internal capabilities. Working alongside their external consultant firm, Bencis recognized that the existing software platform created barriers rather than bridges between expert guidance and practical implementation.
The previous technology solution was not user-friendly, did not offer the level of support required, and made it challenging to aggregate ESG data from each of the 29 portfolio companies at the fund level. As Lizzy noted,
"We were using a platform that just didn't meet our growing needs. We needed better usability for our portfolio companies and more flexible reporting capabilities at the fund level."
Critically, Bencis wanted to preserve the valuable expertise of their ESG consultants while enabling portfolio companies to develop complementary in-house capabilities. "It was always mandatory to report data, but we hadn't enforced target-setting," said Lizzy. "Now we're moving toward making improvements and building that buy-in – and we need a tool that works seamlessly with our consulting partners to support that shift."
Read the full case study...
To find out how Bencis Capital Partners and KEY ESG rolled-out a strategic partnership which enabled consultant-technology collaboration and built in-house ESG capabilities across its portfolio, read the full case study here.
