Bad news for BlackRock (no relation to BSM)

[dan_s]

BlackRock is part of the War on Fossil Fuels. Vivek Ramaswamy exposes them for their ESG crap in this new book.
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Texas to BlackRock: Take Your Money and Shove It
DAVID BLACKMON
MAR 20

Well, it took too long to get around to doing it, but officials for the Texas Permanent School Fund (PSF) notified notorious ESG investment house BlackRock, led by CEO Larry Fink, that it was divesting its huge $8.5 billion investment with Blackrock due to that company’s persistent discrimination against the Texas oil and gas industry.

The reason for this move is two-fold:

The PSF derives the vast preponderance of its funds - more than $1 billion annually - from oil and gas revenues related to mineral rights bequeathed to it by the State of Texas in the West Texas Permian Basin.

The 2021 session of the Texas Legislature passed a law, signed by Gov. Greg Abbott, ordering the Texas Comptroller’s office to identify any ESG investment companies who, like BlackRock, discriminate against funding oil and gas projects, as Fink & and his compatriots have done consistently over the last 15 years and more. Any Texas-run fund then has a legal obligation to terminate any and all investments with such firms.

The move against BlackRock related to the PSF is just the first of what we should expect to become a series of divestments of ESG money from Texas it and other Texas funds like its Teacher Retirement Fund, the Permanent University Fund that provided capital to both The University of Texas and Texas A&M systems, and various other investment funds managed by the state.

Here’s an excerpt from a story at the New York Post:

In an announcement first shared with FOX Business, Texas State Board of Education Chairman Aaron Kinsey said the so-called Texas Permanent School Fund (PSF) had delivered a notice to BlackRock on Tuesday, informing the New York City-based firm of the action.

According to Kinsey, the move was made in accordance with a 2021 state law that seeks to distance the state and its large public purse from financial institutions boycotting the oil and gas sector.

“The Texas Permanent School Fund has a fiduciary duty to protect Texas schools by safeguarding and growing the approximately $1 billion in annual oil and gas royalties managed by the Texas General Land Office,” Kinsey said in a statement Tuesday. “Terminating BlackRock’s contract ensures PSF’s full compliance with Texas law.”

“BlackRock’s dominant and persistent leadership in the ESG movement immeasurably damages our state’s oil & gas economy and the very companies that generate revenues for our PSF. Texas and the PSF have worked hard to grow this fund to build Texas’ schools,” he continued. “BlackRock’s destructive approach toward the energy companies that this state and our world depend on is incompatible with our fiduciary duty to Texans.”

The divestment represents a large share of the $53 billion Texas PSF, a fund created in the 19th century to support the state’s public schools.

Still, Texas’ move was cheered by Derek Kreifels, the CEO of the State Financial Officers Foundation, and Will Hild, the executive director of Consumers’ Research, who have led nationwide opposition to ESG policies.

“Today’s bold step by Aaron Kinsey and the Permanent School Fund of Texas, in accordance with state law, is a massive blow against the scam of ESG,” said Kreifels. “This is what happens when public fiduciaries stand up for those to whom they owe a duty, instead of bowing down to Wall Street’s asset managers who continue to abuse their position in the market to advance radical ideologies.”

“Under Larry Fink’s leadership, BlackRock has been misusing client funds to push a political agenda for years. Nowhere was that more egregious than in Texas, where BlackRock was simultaneously trying to destroy the domestic oil and gas industry while managing funds that depended on royalties derived from that very same industry,” added Hild. “A more flagrant violation of fiduciary duty is difficult to imagine.”

Naturally, BlackRock’s first move was to condemn the state of Texas:

“Today’s unilateral and arbitrary decision by Board of Education Chair Aaron Kinsey jeopardizes Texas schools and the families who have benefited from BlackRock’s consistent long-term outperformance for the Texas Permanent School Fund,” a BlackRock spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “The decision ignores our $120 billion investment in Texas public energy companies and defies expert advice. As a fiduciary, politics should never outweigh performance, especially for taxpayers.”

The decision was neither unilateral nor arbitrary. BlackRock had had 2-1/2 years notice of the law passed in 2021, as well as multiple letters sent to it during that time by Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar. Rather than modify its business strategies undermining the Texas industry and state government, it provided only lip service while continuing the same practices.

Good riddance.

God Bless Texas.

That is all.