Responsibility

Investment Policies

Plutodefi Partners seeks to guarantee that projects have a beneficial impact on development, adhere to best practices for environmental and social safeguards, and respect human rights, particularly worker rights.

Environmental and Social Policy and Procedures

Plutodefi  Partners is in the process of reviewing and revising its Environmental and Social Policy and Procedures (ESPP)—the first significant reform since 2016 The objective of the study is to modernize Plutodefi  Partners’ ESPP so that it is more in line with its mandate, products, best practices, and the standards of its peer Development Financial Institutions. Plutodefi Partners consulted a variety of stakeholders, including staff, clients, local and international civil society organizations, US interagency, and Congress, to inform the adjustments.

Major modifications include:

  • Restructuring the material to enhance readability and eliminate repetition
  • Sector-specific standards and the climate chapter are being revised.
  • Clarifying environmental and social risk categories and corresponding standards, and introducing unique categories for Financial Intermediaries
  • Changing phrasing to reflect Plutodefi Partners’ current product lineup
  • Including policy-specific language and concepts

As part of this ongoing process, Plutodefi Partners is soliciting public feedback on the draft amended policy.

The guiding environmental and social policies and procedures are largely based on the environmental and social impact assessment techniques utilized by organizations such as the World Bank Group, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the U.S. Export-Import Bank, among others.

In the absence of mitigation measures, projects that are expected to have major adverse environmental or social impacts that are sensitive, diverse, or unprecedented are notified to the public for a 60-day comment period. Environmental and social impact assessments are made public on the Plutodefi Partners website. Plutodefi Partners consults with the United States Department of State as part of its examination of human rights risks.

The business lines of Plutodefi Partners collaborate closely with the Office of Development Policy to establish a project’s eligibility for Plutodefi Partners assistance. Every prospective project is submitted to a comprehensive policy review. Detailed, accurate, and full application and supporting papers, such as a business plan, speed Plutodefi Partners’ project evaluation.

If more project information from potential clients is required to explain issues or fill in information gaps in support of a project review, the Office of Development Policy collaborates with Plutodefi Partners business lines to collect the required information. Plutodefi Partners may condition its sponsorship of a project on the project’s compliance with Plutodefi Partners policy standards via contractual clauses.

Development Policy

Plutodefi Partners reviews each project using its performance measuring tool, Impact Quotient (IQ), to measure, monitor, and evaluate its global development impact in three key areas:

  • Growth comprises contribution to GDP through improved infrastructure and the development of local income, fiscal benefits to the local economy, and assistance with direct and indirect employment creation.
  • Innovation include the strengthening of markets, the development of new financial structures and business models that mobilize private capital, and the transfer of knowledge or technology.
  • Inclusion involves advantages for excluded populations, such as women or rural residents, small and medium-sized businesses, and underdeveloped regions.

Additionality

Assistance offered by Plutodefi Partners must be in addition to resources from the private sector through mobilizing private money that would not otherwise be deployed. Plutodefi Partners tries to ensure, for each project it sponsors, that private-sector support is not available on terms that would make the project economically sustainable in light of its long-term development goals. Plutodefi Partners considers the following to be significant additionality indicators:

  • Plutodefi Partners’ support supplements and encourages private sector support, but does not compete with it;
  • Plutodefi Partners’ assistance mitigates a credit market flaw;
  • The private market is unable or unwilling to provide support on terms that make the project economically viable;
  • Plutodefi Partners’ support is necessary for a project to achieve the appropriate scale required to obtain the returns required by private market participants; and
  • Plutodefi Partners’ support mobilizes private capital that would not participate without the Corporation’s support.

Principles of our Operation

The principle of Responsibility and Care

Members of the SSH bodies must act with the diligence of a prudent and fair businessman when exercising their duties. They must act solely in the interest of SSH, and, when managing assets of the Republic of Slovenia, solely in the interest of the Republic of Slovenia. They must constantly strive to improve corporate governance of these companies and be an example of a responsible and diligent asset manager for other shareholders. During its operation, SSH takes into account Slovenian and international recommendations and good practice in corporate governance.

Members of bodies and other persons in authority must act responsibly when managing assets and carrying out their duties. A responsible conduct on the part of members of bodies and other persons in authority at SSH is provided by formulating, documenting and overseeing the following matters:

SSH management and operation under applicable regulations and in line with the objectives, the strategy and the annual plan for asset management;

  • having in the SSH’s internal legal documents clearly established rights, obligations and responsibilities on the part of individual members and holders of functions in regard to the management of assets;
  • the establishment and functioning of internal policies and the composition of SSH which will enable and provide for an efficient system of control and management of assets of SSH in daughter companies in line with the objectives, the strategy and the annual plan for asset management;
  • the suitability and efficiency of the internal control system;
  • the suitability and efficiency of the internal risk management system (in regard to organization, legal aspects and finances, etc.);
  • the implementation of provisions of Chapter 6 of ZSDH-1 which stipulates measures for enhancing integrity and responsibility and limitation of risks of corruption, conflict of interest and abuse of internal information when managing assets of the State, together with the supervision and reporting to SSH;
  • the efficiency of systems of internal information and reporting and relations to responsible bodies;
  • the policy regarding the operation and suitability of the appointed members of the corporate bodies of SSH;
  • documenting by way of minutes the sessions of the SSH’s Management Board and Supervisory Board and providing for transcripts of audio records of the sessions of the SSH’s Management Board and Supervisory Board and other significant documentation on the basis of which the performance and the due diligence and responsibility of members of corporate bodies and other persons responsible at SSH may be assessed.

The principle of Independence

SSH and its bodies are not required to follow the directions of state authorities or third parties, and they must operate independently and autonomously when carrying out their responsibilities under this legislation. The exceptions are the provisions of ZSDH-1 regarding the mandatory observance of objectives outlined in the strategy and other legal documents pertaining to asset management, the provisions of the aforementioned law pertaining to the sale of assets prior to the adoption of the Asset Management Strategy, and any applicable provisions of special legislation pertaining to specific assets.

This does not imply that communication between SSH and state authorities and other public law institutions is prohibited, but it must be traceable. The approach for providing traceability is specified by internal legal documents at SSH. The communication with state authorities or any other entity operating under public law does not have the nature of a mandatory instruction, and it is not binding on the SSH’s corporate bodies, which are fully responsible for their decisions in accordance with the law regulating companies and ZSDH-1.

The principle of Transparency

The established legal documents pertaining to asset management, as well as the specified methods and criteria for asset management-related decision making, must be followed when managing assets. Transparency is provided in decision-making, responsibility and accountability, as well as the ability to trace potential attempts by non-public influences to influence the decisions taken by SSH’s corporate entities.

For the interest of state-owned corporations, other owners in these companies, and the general public, assets must be administered as transparently as possible.

The principle of Economy

ZSDH-1 stipulates that effective and efficient administration of the State’s capital assets shall be permitted by facilitating the attainment of goals outlined in legal documents pertaining to asset management. SSH monitors the efficiency of its own operations and those of state-owned enterprises by comparing them to comparable foreign or domestic investments made by the public or private sector, taking into account the industry, size, complexity, risks, market position, and other attributes of the entities compared. The monitoring of the efficiency dynamics is modified and subject to the legal form of a state-owned business, wherein SSH must rigorously exercise its rights in accordance with the law governing corporations. In order to qualify for a reasonable comparison, the benchmarks mentioned in the previous phrase must express continuity of time and content, which must also provide for current operation and monitoring of trends. SSH must establish a risk management system comprising the following:

  • the development of risks and monitoring of risks in relation to the achievement of individual objectives, the type of risk, and its significance;
  • the supply of a competent evaluation and management of risks.


During present operations and when drafting proposals for the legal documents pertaining to asset management, SSH must adhere to the findings referenced in the previous clause.

Each investment is intended to create an attractive financial return and have a significant impact on development.

Plutodefi Partners’ investing rules and procedures are based on decades of expertise making sustainable investments. Plutodefi Partners targets worldwide standards compliance and collaborates with other market participants to further refine and evolve its approach.

Plutodefi Partners Investment Management’s investment processes adhere to Plutodefi Partners’ rules and procedures, with only a few additional steps added to the current system for fund-level decision making.

Environmental, Social & Corporate Governance (ESG) Policy

Plutodefi Partners introduced the Plutodefi Partners Sustainability Policy Universe in 2016. This universe brings together different sets of documents and technologies that, when combined, serve as the framework for guiding Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) actions by Plutodefi Partners. Plutodefi Partners has implemented a comprehensive and holistic approach to contributing to sustainable development, which is connected with the Global Goals for Sustainable Development and complies with the numerous international rules and regulations designed to shape corporate responsibility.

The Plutodefi Partners Sustainability Policy Universe contains the following:

  1. The Plutodefi Partners Policy on Sustainability
  2. Position Statements of Plutodefi Partners
  3. Investment Standards
  4. Exclusion List
  5. Establishing Objectives and Goals, Including Key Performance Indicators
  6. Monitoring of ESG risk mitigation within the Plutodefi Partners portfolio
  7. Ex-ante Disclosures and Portfolio
  8. Responsibility and education
  9. Stakeholder engagement
  10. Integrated Reports
  11. Complaints Procedure
  12. Plutodefi Partners’ Management System for Sustainability
  13. Committed Teams

Plutodefi Partners has established a holistic and integrated strategy to managing Sustainability in its operations, putting it in a strong position to meet its purpose, vision, and objectives.