Responsible Ownership Statement

Index Building Group Responsible Ownership Statement As a purpose-driven investment firm, Index Building Group is committed to responsible ownership. Responsible ownership considerations are integrated into every stage of our investment process and drive the development of policies, action plans and metrics for our portfolio companies.

We ensure that the Boards and management teams of our portfolio companies are familiar with our Responsible Ownership Statement, aligned with our values and principles, and equipped to put them into practice. The 200-day Plan that we develop for each prospective portfolio company includes a relevant Responsible Ownership Policy, together with procedures to implement the policy and monitor its effectiveness.

We partner with the management teams of our portfolio companies to ensure alignment on the strategy for value creation, agree on clear objectives and deliverables and set appropriate metrics to measure progress.

We describe Index Building Group’s approach to responsible ownership in terms of five P’s: starting from a shared Purpose, we focus on People, Planet and Partnership, all of which contribute to delivering the fifth P: Performance.

We hold ourselves and our portfolio companies accountable to our investors, their beneficiaries and all our stakeholders.

People 

In addition to our commitment to comply with all applicable laws and regulations, we expect every member of the Index Building Group team to exemplify the highest standards of ethical conduct and to act with regard for the wellbeing, health and safety of others. We encourage practices, both within Index Building Group and in our portfolio companies, that support the development of an engaged and productive workforce.

We believe that a diverse and inclusive workforce embodying integrity, teamwork and respect for others will stimulate new ideas and lead to positive outcomes. We seek to encourage diversity in, and the development of, our people through recruitment and retention programmes as well as through training and mentoring.

We expect our partners, employees and other stakeholders to treat others fairly and without prejudice in respect of gender, race, ethnic or national origin, socioeconomic status, immigration status, age, religion, sexual orientation or disability.

We respect the human rights of those affected by our investment activities and seek to ensure that our investments do not support companies that use child or forced labor or maintain discriminatory practices.

We encourage our portfolio companies to ensure their key suppliers have policies that demonstrate a commitment to respect human rights.

Planet 

We believe we have a responsibility to promote effective stewardship of our planetary resources in order to protect the future. We support Index Building Group portfolio companies to manage their environmental performance effectively so as to minimize the impact of their business processes on the natural environment.

We encourage all the companies in which we invest to take a proactive approach to the management of their environmental footprint and to seize opportunities to further the positive impact they can have on their environment.

We monitor and support their efforts to incorporate sustainable environmental considerations into their practices, with particular regard to the consumption of energy, water and other resources, the use of raw materials, the impact of transport and travel, the elimination of waste and the reuse of materials where possible.

We work to ensure that we incorporate these and other environmental sustainability practices into the dayto-day activities of our firm, and we encourage our portfolio companies to do likewise.

Partnership

We approach governance as a true partnership with the management teams to whom we entrust the direction and development of Index Building Group’s portfolio companies.

From the outset, we put in place appropriate financing structures designed to enable our portfolio companies to meet their financial obligations, including during challenging trading conditions. This means that levels of debt will typically be set conservatively to enable companies to operate robustly, even in turbulent economic circumstances.

We require early implementation of effective and fit-for-purpose governance and reporting structures in our portfolio companies. We also expect them to adopt clearly articulated governance principles designed to ensure that their approach to social, environmental and ethical issues is consistent with our commitment to the values of responsibility, integrity and sustainability. Just as we expect our portfolio companies to rigorously manage enterprise risks, we monitor their efforts to track people, planet and partnership risks and to identify and act on linked value-creation opportunities.

Performance 

We believe that responsible policies and practices concerning people, planet and partnership can drive long term performance improvements in our portfolio companies and position them for sustainable growth.

Management of our Responsible Ownership Program 

We have formed a Responsible Ownership Committee, composed of senior Index Building Group professionals, tasked with the management and oversight of all aspects of responsible ownership and their integration into the strategy, activity and culture of Index Building Group in accordance with our purpose.

We take steps to ensure that this Statement and our corresponding practices are understood and shared across the Index Building Group team, our portfolio companies, key service providers and stakeholders.We keep this Statement, and our monitoring of the ways in which it is implemented, under continuous review.

This Responsible Ownership Statement applies to all private equity investments made by Index Building Group for which Index Building Group has control or significant influence (“portfolio companies”). In cases where Index Building Group is a minority investor, where other circumstances impact Index Building Group’s ability to assess, set, or monitor ESG‐related performance goals, or where we identify material ESG issues that cannot reasonably be addressed, we may not necessarily be able to fully implement this Responsible Ownership Statement. In such cases, Index Building Group will make reasonable efforts to encourage consideration of relevant ESG‐related principles by the investee company.