Buyout firms increase their commitment to charity
Private equity firms’ charitable giving is gaining momentum, according to research that reveals roughly half of the industry’s largest firms have set up foundations.
The research by sister publication Private Equity News found four firms are setting up charities. Bridgepoint Capital was the most recent to establish a foundation, creating one last year.
Such institutions run by Europe’s top 20 firms have more than doubled from four to nine in the past five years. Those to have set up a charity include Apax Partners, Cinven, Permira and IK Investment Partners.
Other firms that have run longer-established charities are 3i Group, Charterhouse, Doughty Hanson and Terra Firma. The research, the first to cover private equity’s charitable giving, found seven firms were willing to disclose information on their donations or had filed accounts with the Charity Commission.
They had donated, on average, £437,000.
Of these firms, Apax Partners was the largest donor, giving more than £1m. The lowest was Candover Partners. It reduced its charitable donations to £125,500 last year from £146,000 in 2007, the firm said in its annual results.
The move follows a wider development of private equity-related charities in the past eight years, including Bridges Ventures, Impetus Trust, the Private Equity Foundation, Social Finance, and Breakthrough, run by Permira.
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