Ethics and Responsibility Charter
Reasons for the Unigrains charter
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- Unigrains was founded in 1963 by French cereal producers. It supports companies of all sizes, in the agri-food and agri-industry sectors, as a responsible investor and partner.
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- This charter is therefore intended as a reminder of the principles that guide Unigrains’ activity. We apply them every day in our work with our investments, from the first stages in the analysis of investment opportunities and decisions.
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- Our way of working is thus designed to achieve an ambition of continuous improvement, so as to make constant progress in accordance with the principles listed and ensure long-term value creation.
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- Having unique sector expertise and a global understanding of the issues facing companies, Unigrains is aware of its role and its contribution to the responsible development of its investments and the agri-food and agri-industry sectors in France and abroad.
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- Unigrains’ aim is to act as a partner to its investments through a relationship based on trust, risk sharing and value creation. This charter should therefore also serve as a set of guidelines for its investments, to ensure a shared ethical approach to the conduct of business.
The charter's provisions
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- Because we contribute to the development of the agri-food and agri-industry sectors…
- We support regional activity by doing as much as we can to encourage the safeguarding of a strong industrial base, driving growth and job creation.
- We foster the international development of French companies and, as far as possible, we act to help keep decision-making centres in France.
- We promote innovation in the agri-food and agri-industry sectors.
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- Because we promote the responsible management of human resources and employment and societal issues by our investments…
- We demand that they ensure respect for human rights and the strict application of employment laws, agreements and codes.
- We ask them to strive to guarantee a healthy, safe and risk-free working environment for their employees.
- We ask them to develop their employees’ training and professional expertise.
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- We support the adopting of business practices by our investments that are both honest and comply with the current regulations.
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- We wish to establish a relationship of trust with our investments in accordance with our values and we therefore ask them to provide us with accurate and true information.
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- Because we work alongside our investments to guarantee food safety…
- We demand that they do their utmost to provide products and services that meet the requirements of the current laws and regulations and the level of quality expected by customers and consumers.
- We ask that they are able to trace their products and keep track of their origin.
- We demand that they take all of the industrial, certification and monitoring measures necessary to ensure the reliability, quality and traceability of their products and to provide customers and consumers with accurate information.
- We encourage steps to continuously improve product quality, safety and performance in the interests of satisfying customers and consumers.
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- Because we encourage our investments to take all reasonable measures possible to preserve natural resources in terms of their quality and quantity…
- We demand strict adherence to the applicable environmental laws, regulations and standards.
- We promote energy-efficient projects or projects that use renewable energy whenever this is relevant and possible.
- We support sustainable water management.
- We encourage the reducing of the quantities of waste produced and the recycling of this waste.
- We want living species to be treated with a view to the final quality of products.
The charter's provisions reflect Unigrains' role, values and identity
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- Our role as a leading private equity partner of agri-food and agri-industry companies is divided between two activities:
- Growth capital and financing for companies’ projects,
- Strategic advice and assistance.
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- Given our origins and our shareholder structure our employees’ way of operating is based on a local presence and providing unique expertise.
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- Our daily work is guided by a set of values built around three areas of focus:
- Ethics, integrity and independence,
- Confidentiality and professional requirements,
- Respect and commitment, which are an inseparable part of our long-term investment approach.
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- Our role, our values and our identity have guided the writing of this charter so that we can share them as effectively as possible with our partners.