BlackRock to clean up investment portfolio, says CEO

PARIS: Investment giant BlackRock is divesting holdings in companies that generate more than a quarter of their sales from thermal coal production, chief executive Larry Fink said.

“We believe that sustainable investing is the strongest foundation for client portfolios going forward,” Fink said in a letter to clients last week.

In line with that target, “we are in the process of removing from our discretionary active investment portfolios the public securities (both debt and equity) of companies that generate more than 25% of their revenues from thermal coal production,” the letter said.

New York-based BlackRock, the world’s biggest private investment fund, set a deadline of mid-2020 to reach that goal, it added.

Finally, “BlackRock’s alternatives business will make no future direct investments in companies that generate more than 25% of their revenues from thermal coal production,” the fund said.

Direct investments currently account for $1.8 trillion of BlackRock’s total $7.0 trillion in managed assets.  

Published in The Express Tribune, January 16^th, 2020.

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