Procedures

Conflicts of interests

Five Seasons has a conflict of interest policy which describes the measures we take in order to detect and manage the situations that could give rise to a potential conflict of interest. For more information, please contact us at info@fiveseasons.vc

Exercise of voting rights

Five Seasons has a voting rights policy which describes the conditions regarding the exercise of voting rights attached to our investment vehicles. For more information, please contact us at info@fiveseasons.vc

Client complaint handling

Five Seasons has put in place a procedure in order to address the client complaints.

A client complaint refers to an expression of dissatisfaction of a client against Five Seasons.

Your complaint will be handled by Five Seasons’ Chief Compliance Officer according to the following timeframes:

Acknowledgement of receipt of complaint no later than 10 working days from the day the complaint was received, unless the answer is already provided to you within this timeframe.
Provision of answer to you no later than two months after the reception of the complaint, unless exceptional circumstances justify extending this timeframe.
The handling of the complaint by Five Seasons is free of charge. You will not incur any (administrative, research or other) fees in relation to the handling of the complaint. All claims must be addressed to Five Seasons.

You can also address your complaint to the Ombudsman of the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) in case of a disagreement relating to a product or service in her competence, at the following address:

Le Médiateur – Autorité des Marchés Financiers,

17 place de la Bourse

75082 Paris”

Prohibition of financing of cluster munitions and anti-personnel mines

France is a signatory party of the Ottawa Convention of 3 December 1997 on the prohibition of the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel landmines, and of the Oslo Convention of 3 December 2008 on the elimination of cluster munitions. Five Seasons respects the Conventions and excludes the companies involved in cluster munitions or anti-personnel mines through their development, production, use, maintenance, sale, distribution, importing or exporting, stockpiling or transportation.

Environment, Social and Governance (ESG)

The United Nations estimates the world’s population to reach nine billion people by 2030. A growing population, urbanization, climate change, diminished quality of land and depletion of water resources, increase in meat consumption and many other factors, put our food system in danger.

Our report on The State of European Food Tech shows that in 2018, €1 billion was invested in ‘next generation’ food tech companies responding to fast evolving consumer demand, slow responses from the major incumbent food & beverage companies and the reduced cost in scientific discovery. Our ways of eating are shifting toward healthier, more connected, and more sustainable food.

At Five Seasons Ventures, we are dedicated to take part in this change. We also believe that technology can help transform the food system for the better, into a more sustainable and resilient one. Most of the companies we invest in have a positive side benefit on the environment, and we are committed to drive positive societal and social change for each of the companies that we back.

Shifting diets, trust and transparency, increase yield and efficiency, reduce wasted calories: at Five Seasons Ventures, we focus across the value chain to ensure our investment translates in offering improved food solutions, for the consumer and the planet.

As a fund managers and investors, at Five Seasons Ventures we are committed to adopt high environment, social and governance standards and report on the same to our Investors at least annually. Where appropriate, we seek to ensure that these standards are taken into consideration by our portfolio companies and when possible will seek to obtain a commitment from the portfolio company management to measure and report on such metrics, if they do not already do so.

Five Seasons Ventures’ approach to impact aims to be based on objective quantitative metrics. Some of the companies in the portfolio would lend themselves well to measuring and reporting on quantitative metrics, others less so.

Some of such metrics include:

Environment and climate: environmental policy, environmental friendly practices, energy consumption monitoring, waste, biodiversity, environmental certifications, carbon footprint assessment, supply chain efficiency, etc.

Social: employment, turnover rate, training budget, discrimination against women, profit-sharing system, accident frequency/severity rate, absenteeism and injuries

Governance: governing bodies, CSR governance, integration of social and environmental performance into decision making, CSR risk management, suppliers, health and safety.

The collection and elaboration of the information is done in collaboration with an independent specialist agency to ensure quality of output and the adoption of industry best practices (including the use of specialized questionnaires and direct interviews with management).

A written report including the identified ESG impact metrics by each portfolio companies is discussed with the Fund’s Advisory Committee and sent to our Investors at least annually.

Five Seasons Ventures presently manages one fund vehicle, and these ESG principles are applicable to this fund.

Neither our management company nor the Fund we manage are part of any formal charter, code or initiative related to the implementation of ESG criteria.

For more information, please contact us at info@fiveseasons.vc