Solactive Acquires Minerva Analytics, the ESG Research, Stewardship Support and Proxy Voting Agency, Further Enhancing its Leading Position in Sustainable Finance
Amid a global push towards trustworthy and granular ESG data, rigorous reporting and engagement on sustainability issues by investors, German index provider Solactive is pleased to announce its acquisition of Minerva Analytics, the UK-based stewardship solutions provider. The move follows Solactive’s minority investment in Minerva in May 2019.
With increasing regulatory focus on sustainability in Europe, the UK, US and Asia-Pacific, the transaction will enable Solactive and Minerva Analytics to provide their combined global client base of more than 500 entities with proxy voting and stewardship oversight services as well as ESG indices, benchmarks, research and data. As both indexed and systematic asset management firms face escalating calls from investors to actively vote and engage with portfolio companies, Minerva’s solutions are a natural addition to Solactive’s existing services.
Solactive already commands a leading position within the ESG solutions landscape, ranking third globally in 2021 in ETF launches incorporating ESG considerations. The acquisition of Minerva Analytics strengthens the firm’s commitment to innovation within sustainability. Working with multiple sources of ESG intelligence and data, Solactive will continue to provide a compelling choice of customized and off-the shelf ESG benchmarks.
Following the completion of the acquisition, the companies will continue to operate independently and partner on an arm’s length basis in the fields of data science and technology.
Steffen Scheuble, CEO of Solactive, said: “An explosion of interest in improving responsible investment practices over the last few years has been driven by both regulatory demands and increased client attention. In particular, clients are keen to diversify their sources of input and intelligence to improve outcomes. We believe this trend will only accelerate and we look forward to our continued close collaboration with Minerva as it cements its position as one of a handful of truly global and objective sustainable stewardship services and ESG research and data providers.”
Sarah Wilson, CEO of Minerva Analytics, commented: “Solactive and Minerva share the philosophy that there is no such thing as a ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution for clients, who all hold different investment beliefs. This idea manifests itself in the ‘custom as standard’ scalable solutions Minerva has developed over the years for our clients, powered by deep stewardship expertise and backed by expert data and leading-edge technology. The whole team is delighted to be a part of the Solactive family and is excited to embark on this next stage of our journey ahead together.”