Alexforbes Investments releases 2025 stewardship report

Johannesburg, 22 July 2025 – Alexforbes Investments has released its 2025 Stewardship Report, reaffirming its commitment to responsible investing and ESG (environmental, social and governance) integration. The report highlights how the company continues to align long-term investment outcomes with sustainability, transparency and positive societal impact.

Now in its third edition, the report outlines Alexforbes’ evolving approach to stewardship. It provides detailed insights into how the company engages with asset managers, evaluates ESG risks and promotes accountability through active ownership and collaboration.

A connected approach to ESG

The report introduces a more structured method of linking ESG themes to portfolio-level risks. These risks are aligned with targeted engagement strategies, which are then tracked to monitor progress over time. This approach enables stronger alignment between stewardship activities, investment outcomes and long-term sustainability goals.

Key highlights from the 2025 report

• Over 340 ESG-focused engagements with asset managers, collectively overseeing R6 trillion in assets across all major classes. These managers ‒ spanning large institutions, boutique firms, hedge funds and black-owned businesses ‒ conducted an average of 4 600 ESG-specific company engagements annually.
• Top stewardship themes for 2025 included:
  • Executive remuneration (4%)
  • Biodiversity (3%)
  • Carbon reduction targets (2%)
  • Climate risk disclosure (2%)
  • Diversity, equity and inclusion (2%)
  • Governance and policy development (2%)
• Broad ESG integration across portfolios, with most managers outperforming ESG benchmarks.
• PRI ratings that place Alexforbes above global medians in categories such as governance, fixed income and private equity.
• Launch of the AF Infrastructure Impact Fund of Funds, designed to deliver long-term returns while addressing South Africa’s infrastructure needs.
• Enhanced ESG reporting, including Weighted Average Carbon Intensity (WACI) and gender diversity metrics across core portfolio solutions ‒ both local and global ‒ a practice still uncommon in the industry.
• Acquisition of Paragon Impact, a proprietary platform offering SDG-aligned impact grading and reporting capabilities.

Engagement and voting insights

Governance was identified by asset managers as the most material ESG risk, followed by environmental and social considerations. Engagements in 2024 focused on:

• Water security and stewardship
• Executive remuneration and governance
• Climate risk disclosure and carbon reduction planning

Alexforbes voted on 23 501 shareholder resolutions in 2024, with only 0.1% abstentions. Around 11.6% of votes were cast against proposals, primarily concerning governance issues and shareholder rights, indicating a more assertive stance on accountability.

Demonstrating measurable impact

The report outlines how Alexforbes is translating ESG intent into measurable outcomes through its Private Markets portfolio. Key impacts include:

• Funding or supporting over 30 000 SMMEs
• Enabling employment for more than 29 700 women and over 6 200 people of colour in senior management
• Powering 1.6 million households through debt funding and 1.9 million through equity-based energy investments

Setting an industry benchmark

The 2025 report sets a benchmark in the local market, offering a level of structure, transparency and quantifiable insight that remains rare. Unlike many organisations that reference ESG principles broadly, Alexforbes provides detailed portfolio-level data that connects ESG considerations to financial performance and risk management. The report presents a clear breakdown of sector-specific ESG risks, integration strategies and measurable outcomes that are of value to both investors and asset managers alike.

Alexforbes Investments’ flagship growth portfolio, Performer, continues to demonstrate that competitive returns and sustainability can go hand in hand. The portfolio is not only ahead of its CPI + 5% return objective but also leads in several ESG dimensions that matter to today’s investors. Performer maintains a carbon intensity well within optimal ranges and outperforms peers on gender diversity, with 31% female representation. Its high ESG integration score places it in the upper tier, reflecting the consistent expression of ESG principles across its holdings and investment decisions.

Looking ahead

As ESG regulation and expectations continue to evolve, Alexforbes remains focused on improving ESG data quality, deepening engagement with managers and ensuring its platforms deliver clear and actionable insights. With over a decade of ESG integration experience, the company has established itself as a trusted partner for investors seeking consistent financial discipline alongside meaningful ESG expression across portfolios. The full findings and insights are available in the Alexforbes 2025 Stewardship Report.

Industry perspective on the report

Premal Ranchod, Head of Research at Alexforbes says, “This report offers a clear view of how stewardship is applied across listed and unlisted assets, both locally and globally. It combines local insights from our manager research network with a global perspective through our work with Mercer. What really stands out is how it connects broad ESG themes to actual portfolio risks and tracks progress over time. It’s a valuable resource for asset managers looking to benchmark and strengthen their stewardship practices.