Stockholm (NordSIP) – Swedish private equity firm EQT, with its roots in the Wallenberg family’s entrepreneurial mindset and philosophy of long-term ownership, continues to show growing sustainability ambitions. Since she joined the organisation in September 2021, Global Head of Sustainable Transformation Bahare Haghshenas has been quite busy. Earlier this year, EQT established a Sustainability Committee, marking the first board-level commitment to sustainability in the private markets industry. The firm also joined two leading partnerships in June 2022: the World Economic Forum Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders, the largest CEO-led climate alliance in the world, and the Global Impact Investing Network Investors’ Council, a platform for impact investors looking to maximise impact through collaboration.
To support the EQT’s commitment to sustainability, Haghshenas’s Sustainable Transformation team has been growing steadily. In May 2022, the firm made two senior hires, appointing Tinna C. Nielsen in Copenhagen as Equitable Transformation Lead for Social and Human Sustainability and Angela Jhanji in New York City as Managing Director for Sustainability Integration.
On 3 October, EQT announced that they are boosting the team further by appointing Ylva Hannestad (pictured) as Transformation Lead Sustainable Finance & Client Relations. NordSIP reached out to Hannestad to hear more about her new venture into private equity.
“I am super excited to join such a great organisation and team and continue working with my passion for sustainability,” she shares. In her new role, Hannestad will be working between EQT’s client and sustainability teams to lead the engagement with clients around the sustainability agenda.
Hannestad joins EQT after fourteen years at Nordea, where she has held various positions related to sustainable finance. Most recently, she was the Deputy Head of Group Sustainability. “In that role, my team and I have been responsible for driving and developing Nordea’s strategic direction, governance and external disclosures related to sustainability,” says Hannestad. “It has been an amazing journey and fascinating to experience how the external stakeholders’ expectations on banks have rapidly increased over the last few years,” she adds.
EQT’s latest recruit has previously served as a member of the Swedish Bankers Association Sustainability Council and the Swedish National Advisory Board for Impact Investing.
Hannestad looks forward to strengthening the link between her new colleagues at EQT and the firm’s clients. “In my new capacity, I will lead EQT’s sustainability engagement platform and build partnerships with clients to ensure that EQT continues to develop sustainable practices and advocates for a sustainable transformation,” she explains. “I am impressed by EQT’s past achievements and its ambitions for sustainable transformation and thrilled to see that this also encompasses interaction, partnership and engagement with the broader market. This will be key to achieving a greater impact,” concludes Hannestad.
