Investment Environmental and Social Due Diligence Consultants | SLP Thailand
Environmental & Social Due Diligence for an International Education Group in Thailand
SLP Environmental conducted environmental and social due diligence (ESDD) for an international education group operating multiple campuses in Thailand, on behalf of a multinational investment fund. The assessment included corporate management system and campus audits, reviewing performance against applicable Thai regulations, selected IFC Performance Standards and international child safeguarding and food hygiene guidelines. SLP identified and prioritised compliance gaps and prepared an Environmental and Social Action Plan (ESAP) to address medium- and high-risk findings, supporting the fund’s business transaction due diligence.
The Reference Framework (RF) for the assignment included:
- National regulatory requirements pertaining to Environmental and Social performance;
- IFC Performance Standards 1, 2, 3, 4 and 8;
- WBG Environmental, General Health and Safety Guidelines;
- Keeping Children Safe, Child Safeguarding Standards (2001); and
- Food Hygiene, International Good Practice.
The primary objective of the Assignment was to identify gaps in the Company’s performance relative to the E&S benchmarks adopted for the study, and where such were identified, to prepare a clear and succinct Environmental and Social Action Plan (ESAP) with the aim of aligning the Target Company’s E&S performance with the Reference Framework requirements and good international industry practice (GIIP).
As part of study scope, SLP conducted a corporate ESMS audit, onsite E&S audits at multiple operational campuses, reviewed relevant environmental and social (E&S) documentation and conducted interviews with direct and indirect workers. The ESDD study was supplemented with an assessment of the Company’s performance and practices against international child safeguarding and food hygiene guidelines.
A compliance review/ gap analysis was performed, and the identified non–compliances with Reference Framework requirements were assigned a risk ranking of Low, Medium or High. Findings with a risk ranking of Medium or High were taken forward into the Environmental and Social Action Plan (ESAP) developed for the Assignment with the objective of bridging the identified gaps and aligning the Company’s E&S performance with Reference Framework requirements .
SLP specialises in performing ESDD on behalf of project Lenders, Investors and Sponsors and has completed over one hundred due diligence assignments across multiple business sectors and ASEAN jurisdictions.