The investment fund Mirova, one of the main shareholders of Orpea, will remain in the capital of the private nursing home group. But he is asking for profound changes in the company, according to a letter sent to AFP on Monday.
This management company dedicated to responsible investment owns 3.90% of the capital of Orpea, which makes it one of its five largest shareholders. In particular, she asks for the transformation into a “mission company” of the company at the heart of a scandal since its questioning in a book for the mistreatment of its residents.
A concept of “beneficial treatment”
In a letter addressed to the Chairman of the Board of Directors, Mirova, which is also a subsidiary of the Natixis bank, presents its “requests in terms of overhauling the governance of Orpea with, in the foreground, the adoption of the status of mission” at the next general assembly. The concept of “company with a mission”, introduced by the Pacte law of 2019, allows a commercial company to integrate social and environmental objectives into its statutes to which it will devote resources and monitoring.
The French specialist in responsible investment proposes that Orpea include “the notion of ‘good treatment'” and social objectives in terms of human resources management, all steered by a committee of employees and external people and controlled by an independent body. Mirova preferred to “assume its responsibilities and continue the discussions and the transformations of the company”, rather than leaving the capital, told AFP Hervé Guez, director of action management of the Natixis subsidiary.
Mandated independent firms
The management company also issues other requests relating to transparency, the composition of the CSR (corporate social responsibility) committee, governance and executive compensation. On this last point, the management company invites the board of directors to “consider the inability of Yves Le Masne (the former managing director thanked, editor’s note) to deploy a robust CSR strategy during his mandate as a fault justifying the non-attribution of his severance pay”. “We do not want to preempt the results of the investigations, but we are asking for clarification,” added Mathilde Dufour, director of sustainable development research at Mirova, to AFP.
Orpea, in turmoil since the publication of the book “Les Fossoyeurs” by journalist Victor Castanet, commissioned the independent firms Grant Thornton and Alvarez & Marsal to “independently assess the allegations published” in the book-investigation. The French government has also launched two investigations. The minister delegate in charge of the autonomy of the elderly, Brigitte Bourguignon, also put forward the idea that lucrative private establishments be considered as “mission-based companies”.