9fin, the leading leveraged finance (LevFin) intelligence platform, has announced the launch of its new ESG Company Data product. The intelligence provider has analysed thousands of sources, including company documents, offering memoranda, sustainability reports and frameworks, to build a data product that offers standardised ESG information, including the ability to trace key datapoints back to their original source.

The new ESG Company Data product will allow 9fin subscribers to:

• Quickly find key ESG information for any issuer within the Leveraged Finance market
• Easily benchmark and compare companies across key ESG metrics including emissions, net-zero targets, gender diversity, and workplace accidents
• Track the ongoing ESG performance of companies that have issued sustainability-linked bonds, such as VodafoneZiggo or Novolex
• Identify ESG leaders and laggards within key industries such as automotive, retail, energy

To date, ESG disclosure from leveraged finance issuers has generally lagged behind their investment-grade counterparts. The intelligence platform report has highlighted that LevFin companies are reporting fewer than 5 of 11 (45%) key ESG data points. 9fin’s new offering will give detailed ESG company data, commercial context, and a complete overview of LevFin Issuers ESG credentials.

The launch comes ahead of new legislation which will impact Financial Market Participants (FMPs), including asset managers, banks and fund brokers. As of December 2022, the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) is set to enforce the mandatory disclosure of 14 data points known as the Principle Adverse Impact (PAI) indicators.

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This new ESG product enhances 9fin’s existing market-leading ESG offering which includes its ‘ESG QuickTake’ reports – analysis delivered within hours of new deal announcements. The platform also offers a one stop shop for ESG LevFin information with ESG news and analysis, company and instrument-level data, and a database of ESG documents, for example, frameworks and second-party opinions. The 9fin team also provides ongoing primers on key ESG topics through its 9fin Educational series.

Steven Hunter, 9fin Co-founder & CEO, commented, “We are delighted to announce the launch of our new ESG company data offering. Currently, there is a distinct lack of high-quality ESG information in the leveraged finance space with too many firms still disclosing little or no information.

Sustainability-linked and green deals made up 25% of the new issue market last year, so it is really crucial that market participants can source standardised data and understand a company’s ESG credentials quickly and easily.

The team at 9fin have worked hard to deliver this new ESG data using a mixture of technology, specialist expertise and proprietary analysis. We’ll continue to invest heavily in our ESG offering to bring much-needed transparency to this emerging part of the LevFin market.”

As part of the launch 9fin are hosting a Webinar – Greenwatching: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Leveraged Finance ESG Reporting – Thurs 6 Oct. To find out more & register please click link – Webinar Registration

Source: 9fin