Bintang Capital Partners Berhad (“Bintang” or the “Firm”) proudly announces its achievement of becoming a Certified B Corporation (“B Corp”), making it the first private equity firm in Southeast Asia to earn this prestigious recognition.
Administered by the renowned global non-profit B Lab, the B Corp Certification recognises businesses that meet high standards of verified performance, accountability and transparency on factors ranging from employee benefits and charitable giving, to supply chain practices and using responsible input materials.
By joining the community of 6,800 existing B Corps operating in 161 industries across 90 countries, Bintang is embracing a common objective of harnessing business as a force for good.
Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Bintang, Johan Rozali-Wathooth, shares the reasons behind Bintang’s motivations in pursuing B Corp Certification, stating, “It has always been my dream to establish a private equity firm that integrates purpose with considerations for people, planet, and profit. During the early stages of the COVID pandemic, I had time to think about how companies all over the world achieved this goal. The narratives surrounding the B Corp movement inspired and convinced me that this is the way forward for Bintang.”
Bintang has integrated core values of the B Corp belief system into every facet of its business operations and investment processes. This certification represents a significant leap forward in the firm’s relatively short history, propelling Bintang towards becoming a leading impact investor in the Southeast Asian region, driven by the firm’s core “Triple I” philosophy of “Investing in Impact and Innovation.”
Johan further explains, “This achievement not only demonstrates our commitment to responsible business practices but also serves as an inspiration for our Partner Companies. We aspire to guide and support them on their quests to become Certified B Corps. Additionally, given the under-representation of Southeast Asian companies amongst the global B Corp community, we have a further dream to create at least 150 new B Corps in the ASEAN region within our portfolio of companies by 2050.”
Tan Ee Beng, Director at B Market Builder Southeast Asia (the Southeast Asian chapter of the global B Lab Network) shares that, “Bintang Capital Partners has long been a leader and evangelist of ‘Business as a force for Good’ as demonstrated in their organisation’s core values and purpose. This is aligned with our collective mission at B Lab Network globally to transform our current economic system to be more inclusive, equitable and regenerative. I applaud the Bintang team for their perseverance, commitment and leadership in making their dream of becoming a Certified B Corp a reality.”
To earn its certification, Bintang completed the comprehensive B Impact Assessment, evaluating the firm’s practices and performance across five impact areas: workers, communities, customers, governance, and the environment. This process involved rigorous assessments and verifications, engaging every member of the firm, and spanning approximately one year.
As part of the certification process, Bintang amended its Constitution to embrace stakeholder governance. This commitment ensures the firm’s accountability extends to all stakeholders, including workers, communities, customers, suppliers, and the environment – not only its shareholders. Bintang’s comprehensive Responsible and Sustainable Investment Policy further reinforces the incorporation of environmental, social, governance (ESG) as well as impact considerations into all aspects of its business operations, including the investment process.
Johan added, “Bintang Capital Partners’ B Corp Certification demonstrates its unwavering dedication to responsible business practices and its commitment to making a positive impact. The firm looks forward to continuing its journey as a leader in sustainable investing, inspiring others in the region and beyond”.
About Bintang
Founded in 2018, Bintang is a private equity firm headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Bintang benefits from a parentage that includes leading independent Malaysian asset management group, AHAM Asset Management Berhad as well as leading global investment managers such as CVC Capital Partners and Nikko Asset Management.
Bintang focuses on deploying capital into fast-growing mid-sized ASEAN companies with proven track records: based on Bintang’s Triple-I Strategy (“Investing in Impact & Innovation”) the Firm backs visionary entrepreneurs who are aligned to Bintang’s twin core investment philosophies of Innovation and Impact.
Bintang is a signatory to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (“UN PRI”). The Firm is also the first Malaysian signatory to the Operating Principles for Impact Management (“the Impact Principles”), an initiative whose development was led by the International Finance Corporation (“IFC”), a member of the World Bank Group.
On the 21st of May, 2023, Bintang became a B Corp, the first private equity firm in Southeast Asia to earn this prestigious recognition. Bintang has an aspiration to create 150 B Corp portfolio companies by 2050 (“150 by ‘50”).
The Firm’s maiden fund, BCP Asia Fund I (“BCPAF I”) is anchored by Dana Penjana Nasional, an investment fund under the Malaysian Government’s Ministry of Finance aimed at catalysing the country’s post Covid-19 economic recovery whilst supporting the local private capital industry.
BCPAF I invests in high performance and high innovation companies who are well-placed to meet the challenges, opportunities and disruption brought about by rapid advancements in technology. The fund focuses on investments in companies who are committed towards delivering impact from environmental, community, employee, customer and governance perspectives.
Recent investments by the firm include Involve Asia, a technology company that operates a performance-based marketing platform; My Care Concierge, a multi-award-winning provider of elderly care solutions; and iHandal, an industry leader in the energy efficiency solutions innovation space.
Further information about Bintang is available at www.bintangcapitalpartners.com.
About B Lab
B Lab is the non-profit network transforming the global economy to benefit all people, communities and the planet.
By harnessing the power of business, B Lab positively impacts companies around the world, helping them balance profit with purpose. Together, B Lab and the B Corp Community are shifting the global economy from a system that profits few to one that benefits all: advancing a new model that moves from concentrating wealth and power to ensuring equity, from extraction to generation, and from prioritizing individualism to embracing interdependence.
Further information about B Lab and the B Corp Certification is available at About B Lab (bcorporation.net).
