All sides could gain from $42 bln NorNickel reset 28 Jul 2020 An agreed management shakeup would protect the role of CEO Vladimir Potanin, who holds 35% in the Russian miner, and dodge legal disruption. Rusal, with 28%, could eke out more control. Other investors would get a better-run company, and a lower risk of ecological catastrophe.
Hydrogen investing is a lottery worth playing 22 Jul 2020 The element has huge potential as a carbon-free energy source. Prior false dawns, sky-high valuations and the difficulty of identifying which companies will endure are causes for investor caution. But the scale of the opportunity means there’s also a risk of missing out.
Green laggards face a rising tide of short selling 15 Jul 2020 A new BNP Paribas fund will hedge investments in companies embracing the energy transition by betting against shares in refuseniks. Shorting ESG sinners isn’t easy, and has even caused controversy. But as disclosure improves it can play a growing role in sorting sheep from goats.
BlackRock warrants a spot on its climate watchlist 14 Jul 2020 The $6.5 trln asset manager voted against 53 companies for environmental missteps in the past 12 months and put 191 more on notice. It’s much better than the previous year, and necessary after CEO Larry Fink’s call to climate arms. But BlackRock’s own role needs monitoring too.
Boohoo investors sense its strategic straitjacket 8 Jul 2020 The fast fashion retailer’s shares have slumped again, despite a plan to fix its supply chain. The wider issue is that a doubling of UK clothing makers’ pay could halve Boohoo’s EBITDA margins. Other steps – offshoring more production or hiking prices – are problematic too.
Corona Capital: Texas hold it 7 Jul 2020 Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: The iconic State Fair of Texas has been canceled as coronavirus cases in the region soar. The decision adds some $500 mln to the Lone Star State’s economic and human toll from the pandemic.
Time for Boohoo bosses to put on an ESG hair shirt 6 Jul 2020 The 4 bln pound retailer has been accused of sourcing clothes from UK workshops which don’t pay minimum wage or observe Covid-19 restrictions. Betting that consumers and investors don’t care is old hat. Adding ESG metrics to its bumper bonus plans would make them more palatable.
Norilsk Nickel underlines funds’ ESG blind spot 2 Jul 2020 The Russian miner had a bad pollution record even before it leaked 21,000 tonnes of fuel in the Arctic Circle. Passive investors like BlackRock have pledged to engage more closely with ESG miscreants. But when the company is controlled by oligarchs, they may just be ignored.
Corona Capital: Drug hoarding, Vacation-free world 1 Jul 2020 Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: Stockpiling of Covid-19 treatment remdesivir may come back to haunt the Trump administration, while a forecast of $3.3 trillion in lost tourism is more than an inconvenience for some national economies.
Activists are ready to play, but lack playbook 30 Jun 2020 JPMorgan reckons market conditions have been ripe for pushy investors to set their sights on new target companies. The pandemic fallout could force lots of changes and deals. Yet traditional activist ideas and a near-exclusive focus on shareholder value may not cut it.
Virus inflates allure of Abu Dhabi gas pipelines 23 Jun 2020 The emirate’s oil giant ADNOC has sold 49% of its infrastructure arm to investors including GIC and Brookfield. A $21 bln valuation is higher than mooted before Covid-19. That’s probably because the virus has made a combination of secure assets and leverage even more appealing.
BP’s greener credentials sharpen focus on dividend 15 Jun 2020 The energy giant is writing off up to $17.5 bln after slashing long-term oil price forecasts. BP’s green transition would get an extra boost if it cut dividends to spend more on low-carbon output. But as Royal Dutch Shell has found, that irks investors it needs to keep sweet.
Norilsk Nickel hits investors when they’re down 11 Jun 2020 The miner’s biggest shareholder Vladimir Potanin wants to cap 2020 dividends at 25% of forecasts. ESG-conscious foreign investors will have blanched after it leaked 21,000 tonnes of fuel. They’ll be even less keen on cutting payouts by a lot more than the apparent cleanup costs.
Dixon: We need green deals, but will we get them? 18 May 2020 There’s a growing investor consensus that post-pandemic recovery plans should be green. But what should those “green new deals” look like? How should they be funded? And how can governments be pressurised to play ball?
Sustainable investing’s virus halo is premature 18 May 2020 Environmental, social and governance-focused funds outperformed peers in the first quarter, new BlackRock research suggests. Steady inflows are encouraging given the fear investors would ditch ESG in a crisis. But one quarter alone is not enough to judge the sector.
Climate fight will survive pandemic’s mixed legacy 14 May 2020 Covid-19 distilled into weeks the havoc global warming will cause over years. Going green will help states avoid a permanent version of stranded airline, oil and other assets. The challenge is to balance short-term jobless worries with the need for a sustainable economic future.
Guest view: Climate change is the next Covid-19 30 Apr 2020 The failure to properly plan for the coronavirus outbreak has made dealing with it much harder. As former White House energy and climate adviser John E. Morton argues, the cost of addressing damaging global warming will be similarly increased unless governments show leadership.
Tesla gets board street cred it sorely needs 23 Apr 2020 Hiro Mizuno, former investment chief at Japan’s $1.5 trln pension fund is joining the electric-car maker as a director. He and Tesla boss Elon Musk may bond over their views on short sellers. But it’s Mizuno’s ESG clout that will serve the governance-challenged manufacturer best.
Earth Day’s 50th comes at just the right moment 22 Apr 2020 Half a century ago, Americans protested in droves for cleaner air and water. But progress has slowed, or been undone, while air pollution costs the global economy $3 trln a year. The pandemic has given a taste of a less smoggy world that could bolster efforts to cut emissions.
Shell helps avoid net-zero focus on climate change 16 Apr 2020 The oil major has followed BP in toughening its long-term carbon reduction ambitions. As with those of peers, the new goals are still not much more than a start. Still, with Covid-19 forcing Big Oil into crisis mode, their main virtue is to keep global warming on the radar.