Does traditional ESG due diligence actually help private equity investors manage risk, or can it become part of the problem?

Ross Butler speaks with Rupert Evill, Founder of Ethics Insight, about business ethics, integrity risk, fraud and due diligence in private markets. They explore why investors should look beyond policies and compliance checklists to understand the context, controls, culture and incentives inside a business.

Rupert also explains why due diligence should be forward-looking. An investment can fundamentally change a company by accelerating growth, introducing new markets, decentralising decision-making and putting management teams under new pressures.

IN THIS EPISODE

• Why integrity risk may be more useful than conventional business ethics
• The importance of context, controls and culture
• Why ESG box-ticking can distract from genuine risk management
• How AI is changing due diligence and compliance
• Why investment itself can create new portfolio company risks
• What whistleblowing and speak-up cultures reveal about a business
• How investors should think about fraud, corruption and political risk
• What founder due diligence can reveal about management and culture
• Why impact investing still requires rigorous commercial risk management

ABOUT RUPERT EVILL

Rupert Evill is Founder of Ethics Insight and has 25 years of frontline experience across more than 80 countries.

His work spans investigations, intelligence, political risk, due diligence, crisis response, integrity risk and human rights. Rupert is a Certified Fraud Examiner and author of Bootstrapping Ethics, with postgraduate study in communication, behaviour and credibility analysis and Cambridge training in business sustainability.

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Business ethics, integrity risk and private equity

03:03 Context, controls and culture

06:37 ESG box-ticking, AI and due diligence

11:05 Whistleblowing, speak-up culture and fraud prevention

17:55 How investment changes portfolio company risk

21:05 Corruption, emerging markets and political risk

25:01 Fraud risk, compliance and corporate integrity

32:31 Founder due diligence and portfolio company culture

35:32 What should private equity investors monitor across a portfolio?

42:12 Supply chains, ESG, impact investing and responsible investment

🔹 🔹 🔹 🔹 🔹 🔹 🔹 🔹 🔹

GUEST

Rupert Evill

Founder, Ethics Insight

🔗 Connect on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rupert-evill/

🌐 Ethics Insight:

https://www.ethicsinsight.co/

📧 Contact:

https://www.ethicsinsight.co/contact/

🔹 🔹 🔹 🔹 🔹 🔹 🔹 🔹 🔹

ABOUT FUND SHACK

Fund Shack explores private equity, private credit and the wider private markets industry through long-form conversations with leading investors, advisers and practitioners.

🔹 🔹 🔹 🔹 🔹 🔹 🔹 🔹 🔹

HOST

Ross Butler is the founder and host of Fund Shack. He has worked around private capital for 25 years as a journalist, policy adviser and consultant, and is the author of Invest Like a Barbarian: Share in the Spoils of a Private Markets Revolution.

🔗 Connect on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rossbutler1/

🌐 Fund Shack:

https://www.fund-shack.com/

🔹 🔹 🔹 🔹 🔹 🔹 🔹 🔹 🔹

📘 ORDER ROSS BUTLER’S BOOK

Invest Like a Barbarian: Share in the Spoils of a Private Markets Revolution

http://q-r.to/Invest-Like-A-Barbarian

🔹 🔹 🔹 🔹 🔹 🔹 🔹 🔹 🔹

Interested in joining Fund Shack as a guest or exploring sponsorship opportunities?

Contact Katie at Katie@linearB.media to discuss upcoming episodes, editorial themes and partnership opportunities.