4 November 2022

MJ Hudson Group plc

(the "Company", "Group" or "MJ Hudson")

ESG Business Expansion

MJ Hudson announces expansion of its ESG & Sustainability business into Spain

MJ Hudson Group plc (AIM:MJH), the specialist service provider to the asset management industry today announces the continued expansion of its successful ESG & Sustainability business, through the hiring of Maria Merry del Val and an experienced team from an established Spanish ESG consulting business.

MJ Hudson´s ESG & Sustainability business was founded in Amsterdam, but now also has established offices in London and New York. The addition of this Madrid-based team brings the total number of ESG-dedicated staff to more than 70. Services to clients include ESG policy and regulation, due diligence, performance monitoring, training, investor reporting and carbon and climate insights, as well as the Company´s award-winning digital ESG platform, ESG Advantage. The client base includes some of the largest private markets fund managers and investors, globally.

The new team in Madrid brings particular expertise in the areas of regulation and ESG due diligence.  It will help support MJ Hudson in continuing to build its market leading ESG & Sustainability business which has been identified as a transformative growth area for the Group.

As part of its commitment to the Spanish market, MJ Hudson has applied to join SPAINCAP the Spanish private equity trade association. The incorporation of the new team in Spain follows the recent opening of MJ Hudson's new Barcelona research and development offices. 

Emma Bickerstaffe, MD of MJ Hudson ESG & Sustainability, commented:

"We are excited by the prospect of extending our ESG & Sustainability services to Spanish clients and we are delighted to have found such an experienced team to help us achieve this. Our newly combined firm is perfectly set up to deliver the highest quality ESG digital and advisory services to Spanish fund managers and investors.  Beyond that, Maria and the team bring a wealth of experience which will help us accelerate our plans for growth globally."

Maria Merry del Val commented:

"We have been impressed by the professionalism and commitment of Emma and the team at MJ Hudson. The MJ Hudson brand is a growing force in ESG and there is a strong common culture between us. I am convinced there is good synergy for clients and staff going forward in our combined service offer for Spain. This move therefore feels like a natural combination for us and we look forward very much to being part of the MJ Hudson international family."

Ends

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About MJ Hudson

MJ Hudson (AIM:MJH) is the end-to-end solutions provider to the US$100 trillion+ asset management industry, specialising in its fastest growing segment, private markets (including private equity and venture capital). 

The Company offers investors access to the growth in private markets as a tech-enabled 'picks and shovels' play. 

Founded in 2010, by CEO Matthew Hudson (a private markets lawyer and former fund manager), MJ Hudson was admitted to the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange in 2019. The Group has grown to more than 300 professionals, serving more than 1,000 clients, across the globe, including some of the industry's largest players and 18 of the FTSE 100.

Several factors have contributed to the Group's success, to date, and support strong growth expectations, for the future: 

1.   Private markets are growing fast, and MJ Hudson provides the picks and shovels

2.   As private markets grow, so do scrutiny and regulation, increasing the need for the Group's specialist advice and services, particularly in areas like ESG, where it has award-winning solutions

3.   As it evolves, the sector is increasingly embracing technology, data, and analytics, where MJ Hudson has market-leading and award-winning tools and in which it continues to invest

4.   The Group's multi-service approach creates multiple client touchpoints, building stronger, longer-term relationships, and making it easier to sell in additional MJ Hudson services

5.   Performing these services generates vast amounts of data, which MJ Hudson aggregates and analyses, in order to further support its clients, by developing next-generation tools and fine-tuning existing services

For more information, please visit our website: www.mjhudson.com/investors 

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/mj-hudson/
Twitter: www.twitter.com/MJHudsonCorp

About MJ Hudson and ESG Sustainability

MJ Hudson's ESG & Sustainability team have over 12 years' experience supporting private market investors and managers with a wide range of ESG digital and advisory services including policy and regulation, due diligence, performance assessments of companies and managers, carbon and climate consulting and investor reporting.

The ESG and sustainability team of more than 70 colleagues span London, Amsterdam, New York and now Madrid and are well positioned to support clients globally. 

About Maria Merry del Val

Maria Merry del Val started her career as an Analyst in the Investing Banking division in Goldman Sachs in London and went on to the Iberdrola M&A department. She then joined the Private Equity division at The Royal Bank of Scotland, where she worked for 13 years for both Private Equity and Project Finance transactions. In 2019, she co founded Attalea Partners, an ESG consultancy business, in Spain, focused on private markets. Maria currently serves as a Board Member at Grenergy Renovables, a renewables company quoted on the Madrid Stock Exchange with a 1bn Euro market capitalisation.

This announcement contains inside information as defined in Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation.