British hedge fund takes aim at BlackRock over ESG
(This column first appeared on Callaway Climate Insights, a partner of ClimateCrisis247. For more, click here).
LONDON — Back in Old Blighty for a spell and almost the first headline I saw trumpeted another attack on BlackRock BLK 3.04%↑ and its disappearing environmental, social and governance (ESG) campaign.
Bluebell Capital, a tiny British hedge fund activist, to date best known for shaking up yogurt giant Danone a few years back, and pushing BP to reduce oil production cuts, reportedly plans to take a shot next month at the world’s largest asset manager ahead of its annual shareholders meeting in late May.
While some hedge funds have made small waves by railing against sustainable investing in the past, most of the attacks on Wall Street’s ESG advocates, as BlackRock has been, have come from red state politicians and pension managers associated with them.
Shareholder proxy fights are usually campaigns by climate advocates to get companies to do more about global warming, not less. That a hedge fund, whose clients are looking for premium investment returns, would take a swing at one of the industry leaders like this is notable. BlackRock head Larry Fink usually brushes off anti-ESG attacks, though lately he’s been known to substitute “transition financing” for ESG investing whenever possible.
The spreading of America’s culture wars overseas is a dangerous thing, though the British Conservative government began shifting against climate progress last year to a more populist, pro-energy stance ahead of a likely election later this year. Now that The City and Wall Street are carping at each other about ESG, it is inevitable that other fund managers — especially public ones — will be watching over their shoulders. Stay tuned on this one. . . .
