In this dynamic global landscape, investors have always been required to make savvy, smart choices. This requires navigating through the intricate web of bilateral treaty protection, exploring the vital role these agreements play in safeguarding investments across borders. An example lies in the Energy sector, as the Energy Charter Treaty shapes international investment strategies.

In our latest issue of International News, we take a look across sectors and issues of concern to investors, exploring carve-outs and their strategic implications, a deep dive into the fascinating world of investing in sports—a realm where financial strategy meets passion and global markets converge. We focus on the burgeoning healthcare sector in Asia, analyzing the opportunities and challenges that come with investing in this rapidly evolving landscape. We address the pressing issues of currency volatility, anti-coercion measures, and the recently enacted Foreign Subsidies Regulation in the European Union. Together, these issues weave a rich tapestry of elements informing investment decisions in an ever-changing global economy.

ESG is understood to be an acronym for “environmental, social and governance,” but the term can be challenging because it’s used to describe similar but distinct communities of practice, including corporate social responsibility, socially responsible investing, corporate sustainability and impact finance.

In the 1980s, pension investor concerns for social and environmental issues evolved into what became known as socially responsible investing, which screened out investments that raised concerns over various human rights and environmental issues. This eventually spurred a corporate social responsibility (CSR) movement, pressuring corporations to take responsibility for the negative external impacts of their operations.

A global sustainability movement also began in the 1980s seeking to reconcile economic development with the protection of social and environmental balance. This was adapted in the private sector into corporate sustainability, an intentional strategy to create long-term value through improved social and environmental impact. Corporate sustainability differs from CSR in that the latter is often not driven by strategic business imperatives.

The investor perspective on financially material aspects of corporate sustainability coalesced under the term ESG, as famously used in a 2004 United Nations report issued by a coalition of 20 major financial institutions. The report included recommendations on integrating ESG value drivers into financial market research, analysis and investment. This was the birth of ESG, which has blossomed into an important asset class in worldwide financial markets.

Although ESG has become politically fraught in the United States, internationally ESG regulation is becoming pervasive. This issue details these global developments, which, with the potential to more closely align business imperatives with social good, are fundamentally altering standards of corporate responsibility and investment decisions and analysis.

After the post-pandemic boom enjoyed by the Life Sciences sector in 2021, the keyword going into 2023 is uncertainty. On the investment side, it’s shifted dramatically from a seller’s to a buyer’s market, and uncertainty is impacting every aspect of business, including the new transition timelines announced for the EU and UK medical device regimes, and protection of sensitive patient and commercial data owing to the stratospheric rise in cybersecurity insurance premiums.

Never has it been more important for businesses to manage the issues that are within their control, such as ensuring robust compliance and proactively preparing for dispute resolution.

Some extremely positive messages did, however, emerge from panel discussions at McDermott’s Health and Private Equity (HPE) Europe 2022 and European Life Sciences and Healthcare Symposium. Businesses that deliver excellence, whether that’s in patient care or with good scientific assets or an advanced product, are likely to weather the current challenges. In addition, the launch in Spring 2023 of the Unified Patent Court and the European patent with unitary effect will revolutionise the way patents are enforced in Europe, finally delivering the option to enforce, attack, and defend a patent before a single court.