Paris-based corporate social responsibility (CSR) ratings agency Vigeo and Kuala Lumpur-based CSR and socially-responsible investment (SRI) company OWW Consulting have formed a partnership in an effort to extend their coverage in the Asia-Pacific region.
Both companies provide independent research on CSR and SRI based on internationally recognised standards that evaluate companies’ performance in relation to environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) criteria.
The partnership means financial institutions in Asia-Pacific will now be able to access both OWW’s SRI research on companies included in the DJ Stoxx 600 Asia-Pacific and Vigeo’s SRI research on companies included in the DJ Stoxx 600 Europe. They will also be able to access what Vigeo terms its state-of-the-art SRI research and alerts service.
Vigeo chief executive Nicole Notat said the deal is part of the company’s ongoing growth strategy.
“In 2008 [Vigeo] shall reach the full coverage of the DJ Stoxx 1800. The Vigeo-OWW partnership represents another step towards consolidating this commitment.”
OWW chief executive Geoffrey Williams said the deal will enable the two companies to capitalise on the booming SRI market.
“We hope to build a successful relationship which will allow us both to expand our client services to create new and exciting SRI research products in the future. This partnership takes place in a rapidly growing SRI market, valued at an estimated US$4 trillion.”
Both companies also provide sustainability indexes, which evaluate how well companies are performing in relation to CSR criteria.
Vigeo provides the ASPI Eurozone Index and the Ethibel Sustainable Index Series, which cover mainly European markets, and OWW provides the OWW Responsibility SRI Index Series for Malaysia and Singapore.
