Staying with an investor theme… This could get interesting. According to Financial Times, a new investment fund has started specifically to “punish ‘woke’ companies”:
“The actively managed fund, which Azoria Partners expects to launch early next year, will exclude S&P 500 companies that incorporate diversity, equity and inclusion considerations into their hiring processes… [The fund] has a list of about three dozen other companies it will exclude from the roster, unless they scrap their DEI policies… Azoria will push its agenda by excluding companies from their index and publicly claim DEI policies are hurting their stock price.”
This differs from the anti-woke attacks by activist Robbie Starbucks (whose efforts have been more successful than expected) that are aimed at encouraging customer boycotts rather than investors. Starbucks makes generalized and political arguments – we’ll have to see what calculus Azoria uses to claim DEI policies hurt company share prices.
Even if distasteful, the fund’s popularity and success (or lack thereof) will provide data about materiality and the influence – and potential limits thereof – investors have in corporate ESG/sustainability. At least those particular investors, which may punch above their weight as the article indicates they have ties of some sort to the incoming administration.
Members can learn more about investor trends in ESG/sustainability here.
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