Morrow Sodali buys ESG strategy consultancy HXE Partners

Morrow Sodali, a New York-headquartered stakeholder engagement and ESG consulting firm, has acquired HXE Partners, a New York-based ESG strategy consulting firm.

HXE Partners was founded in 2018 to help close the gap between investor demands and corporate provision of sustainability and ESG information. The firm provides investor-focused ESG advisory in strategy development, implementation and management, and reporting and recognition.

HXE Partners has approximately 36 employees and works with clients in real estate, financial services, energy, technology, and manufacturing, among other industries.

The HXE team will join Morrow Sodali’s ESG advisory practice, which in March added FrameworkESG, a Stamford, CT-based consultancy that provides data-driven analysis to reduce ESG-related risk.

Harry Etra, founder and CEO of HXE, will join Morrow Sodali as a managing director. “This acquisition and the recent acquisition of FrameworkESG bring together two leading ESG specialty firms under the Morrow Sodali umbrella,” said Alvise Recchi, CEO of Morrow Sodali. “By augmenting our resources with HXE Partners, we are establishing Morrow Sodali as the go-to firm for ESG expertise and creating much needed additional capacity to service our growing roster of corporate clients.”

The HXE deal is the third bolt-on since Morrow Sodali’s April 2022 acquisition by TPG, a San Francisco-based private equity firm with approximately $135 billion in assets under management. Morrow Sodali bolted on Citadel Magnus, an Australian corporate and financial communications firm, in November 2022.

“We are excited to join Morrow Sodali and align with a leader in the ESG space,” Etra said. “The combination of the two firms will enable us to offer clients expanded capabilities from a larger team of ESG experts. Morrow Sodali offers an entire suite of services designed to help clients reduce risk, capture opportunities, and create value for stakeholders."

Founded in 1972, Morrow Sodali provides advice and services in corporate governance, compensation, ESG, sustainability, proxy solicitation, capital markets intelligence, shareholder and bondholder engagement, M&A, activism and contested situations, financial communications, investor relations, and research.

The company serves over 1,000 clients in 80+ countries, including large multinationals, mutual fund groups, stock exchanges, and membership associations. Morrow Sodali has approximately 1,000 employees in 15 countries.