Index developer Solactive announced today the acquisition of ESG research, stewardship support and proxy voting agency Minerva Analytics.

UK-based Minerva provides a range of ESG and stewardship-focused services for asset owners and managers, including voting modules for the implementation of consistent voting policy, governance reference data, custom voting guidelines and sustainability governance solutions, as well as data and solutions for academics, regulators, issuers and advisors.

According to Solactive, the acquisition comes as both indexed and systematic asset management firms are facing growing pressure from investors to actively vote and engage with portfolio companies. The company said that the transaction will enable the companies to provide their combined 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.

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.”

Following the acquisition, the companies will continue to operate independently, partnering on an arm’s length basis on data science and technology.

Sarah Wilson, CEO of Minerva Analytics, said: 

“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.”