ESG

BP’s oil price boon is a mixed blessing

3 Aug 2021

Rising crude values allowed the $84 bln UK group to raise its payout and give CEO Bernard Looney more funds to pivot away from fossil fuels. But the bonanza could focus investor minds on less speedy rivals with scope to pay higher dividends, like Shell. That may hurt BP’s appeal.

Ferrari’s new boss faces early electric test

2 Aug 2021

The EU wants to ban new fossil fuel-powered cars from 2035. That’s likely to force incoming CEO Benedetto Vigna to accelerate the $42 bln sports-car maker’s plans to shift to battery power. How to do that without denting its luxury margins will require some deft driving.

Apollo SPAC offers cheap ride on EV hype freeway

28 Jul 2021

Electric vehicle charging group Allego is listing through one of the buyout firm’s blank-cheque companies for $3 bln. It’s a crowded space, but a valuation multiple of 5 times 2024 sales is less racy than rivals. Still, only booming battery car demand will avoid a short-circuit.

Rio Tinto CEO picks cash shower over kitchen sink

28 Jul 2021

Jakob Stausholm is spraying the miner’s shareholders with a hardy $9.1 bln in dividends after his first six months in the job. There’s also plenty to splash out on projects like Serbian lithium. Despite the mopping up required in ESG and beyond, the financial plumbing is sound.

Big “transition” funds reflect climate realism

27 Jul 2021

Brookfield has kicked off a new investment vehicle with $7 bln from backers like Ontario Teachers and Temasek. Like another fund from TPG targeted partly at helping traditionally dirty industries change, it’s a recognition that most decarbonization efforts can’t be pure green.

Greener anti-flood investments will be win-win

26 Jul 2021

Germany’s worst natural disaster in decades and deluges in China have sparked calls to build more dams and reservoirs. There are better ways to protect people, land and buildings from both too much and too little water. These alternatives will also appeal to investors.

BHP’s oil exit would be better sooner than later

21 Jul 2021

The mega-miner is reported to be mulling a $15 bln sale of its petroleum arm. The subsidiary’s status as a profit engine amid rising energy prices makes it a tough decision. But even if done at a knock-down rate, CEO Mike Henry can burnish BHP’s allure with oil-hating investors.

Cigar exit is next strike in Swedish Match revamp

20 Jul 2021

Most of the $14 bln group’s sales come from oral tobacco and nicotine pouches which are less harmful than cigarettes, giving it a rich valuation. But rivals like Philip Morris are catching up. Getting out of stogies could raise $2 bln and give its stock a brighter ethical flame.

Lagarde’s green turn may not need to be that sharp

16 Jul 2021

The ECB boss’s 293 bln euro corporate bond programme may soon tilt toward environmental saints and away from sinners. Too heavy a hand could distort markets and inflate green bubbles. But it’s a big enough change for it not to matter if, as seems likely, the intervention is mild.

Capital Calls: Intel, SPAC lobby

16 Jul 2021

Concise views on global finance: Buying GlobalFoundries would boost Intel’s ambitions to make chips for other firms, but spinning it off afterward might please investors more; a new D.C. group sets up shop to defend the blank-check craze.

Capital Calls: Online fashion retail

15 Jul 2021

Concise views on global finance: The return of old customer habits and muted demand as the pandemic lingers could reverse the recent stellar run of the likes of ASOS.

EU carbon border levy limbers up for a soft launch

13 Jul 2021

The European Commission will this week set out plans for making companies that export goods to the bloc incorporate the rising cost of carbon. It’s likely to pull its punches. That’s not ideal, but even a watered-down levy would still set an important precedent.

Bretton Woods could use a green transition reboot

11 Jul 2021

Larry Fink wants the World Bank and IMF repurposed to tackle the climate crisis. The BlackRock boss has a point. To prevent further harmful warming, shock absorbers for private capital will be needed to help poorer nations decarbonise. These multilateral lenders fit the bill.

Review: The dark side of stakeholder capitalism

9 Jul 2021

Arif Naqvi promised to make money while doing good in emerging markets. But he treated his Abraaj private equity group’s cash as his own, pocketing $780 mln. “The Key Man” tells how he hoodwinked the likes of Bill Gates and TPG. It’s an overdue reality check for impact investing.

Capital Calls: Gates split, Chinese IPOs, Telenor

8 Jul 2021

Concise views on global finance: Bill and Melinda Gates agree a post-divorce plan for their joint charitable organisation; medical data firm LinkDoc is among the first to pull its U.S. listing; the Norwegian telco gets just $105 mln for unit hobbled by Myanmar junta.

Capital Calls: U.S. jobs, Fitness IPO

7 Jul 2021

Concise views on global finance: U.S. employment vacancies tip scales towards workers; Mark Wahlberg-backed F45’s IPO values it at twice what an attempted SPAC deal did last year, justifiably.

Capital Calls: Glencore chair, Chinese e-commerce

5 Jul 2021

Concise views on global finance: The commodity giant picks a new chair familiar with its stamping grounds; Beijing cranks up the pressure on companies over data abuses.

Amazon’s lax policy on waste belongs in the bin

24 Jun 2021

The $1.8 trln retailer has been destroying millions of unsold items in the UK alone, ITV says. For now Amazon is benefitting from a lack of net zero emissions-style global standards on waste, and a grey area over unsold stock liability. It should be prepared for that to change.

Green megalomania renews $80 bln Congo hydro dream

18 Jun 2021

Aussie mining magnate Andrew Forrest is behind a fresh push to turn the African river’s vast power into energy. Dam-building is a fool’s errand, though, and his Fortescue’s plan to produce hydrogen for export may not stack up financially. Less bombastic alternatives are better.

The Exchange: Hiro Mizuno

17 Jun 2021

The former chief investment officer of Japan’s $1.6 trillion Government Pension Investment Fund is now a board member at Tesla and Danone. In an interview as part of last week’s Ethical Finance 2021 summit, he tells George Hay how ESG has changed since he championed it at GPIF.