Pantheon hires ICG’s head of responsible investment as global ESG head

ICG has appointed Barclays’ Elsa Palanza as global head of sustainability & ESG from Barclays, while Eimear Palmer joins Pantheon’s investment team as global head of ESG.

Eimear Palmer, Pantheon

Pantheon has appointed its first global head of ESG.

Eimear Palmer, who was head of responsible investment and a managing director at London-listed private markets firm ICG, will join Pantheon in August.

She will be part of the firm’s investment team and report to Alex Scott, investment partner and co-head of Pantheon’s ESG committee. Her role will involve overseeing the firm’s ESG strategy, “reflecting our ongoing commitment to integrating ESG principles throughout our business” and “coordinating our broader approach to ESG, both within the firm and across our investment processes, as well as in our engagement with our clients, the industry and our wider communities”, according to a statement from Pantheon.

Palmer was also a founder of Initiative Climat International’s UK platform and previously worked in ESG at Carlyle Group.

Pantheon this week said it had held the final close on a pair of credit secondaries funds: $834 million for Pantheon Senior Debt II, which targets senior debt investments on a secondary basis, and €510 million for the second generation of its DACH-focused secondaries fund this week.

Meanwhile, ICG has appointed Elsa Palanza, Barclays’ global head of sustainability & ESG, to ICG’s investment office as global head of sustainability & ESG.

Palanza, also based in London, will join the firm in September and will lead the firm’s ESG strategy and responsible investing. She was global head of sustainability and ESG at Barclays for four years. Palanza also held roles at the Clinton Global Initiative and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, “giving her a unique and global perspective on best practices in sustainability and cross-sector partnerships”, according to a statement from ICG.

ICG said on Thursday during its full year presentation that it had raised at least $3 billion for its GP-led focused Strategic Equity IV Fund. The fund is targeting $5 billion, according to Secondaries Investor data.