As we expected, there appear to be more money than deals in clean-tech. New Energy Finance reports: 2006 was another record year for Venture Capital and Private Equity investment in the clean energy sector, with $18.1 billion invested in companies and projects. This represented a 67% increase on 2005 ($10.8 billion), and beat New Energy …
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Category:3 The World of Money
DJSI company survey available
The ninth annual survey of the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes is available. More information about the report, as well as selected downloads about each industry leader and regional rankings, are available at http://www.sustainability-indexes.com.
Is Northern Rock the “whale” that signals the rebalancing of the price of liquidity?
Anatole Galetsky presents GaveKal’s perspective in Here Comes the Whale that Northern Rock is the large problem that needs bailing out in order to pass through the financial liquidity imbalance that has accrued during the past few years. … on past experience, the long-awaited appearance of the whale – Continental Illinois, Chrysler, Brazil, Drexel Burnham, …
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Norway’s high standard of sovereign fund management
The FT describes how Norway’s sovereign fund management sets the standard. Government Pension Fund-Global, part of Norges Bank, was set up by the Norwegian government in 1990 and manages about €235 billion. It has worked with authorities in Kazakhstan, East Timor, Bolivia, the Faroe Islands and several African countries among others. “We make no strategic …
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Special report on financial centres
A comprehensive review of the characteristics of the world’s main financial centres by The Economist (EIU): Magnets for money. While the impact of technology on transformations of financial centres in recent decades is analysed, there could have been a more critical review of the outlook for the decentralisation of financial services through ICT.
Excessive pay hurts economy and society
A new report claims that excessive executive compensation in the US is taking a staggering economic and social toll on American society, threatening leadership in the business, government, and nonprofit sectors and creating instability in the economy. The report gives a good summary of the gross disparity between top earners and average earners and disparages …
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Fees win over carry for buyout managers …
A new study by two professors at Penn’s Wharton School lifts the lid on a “secret” of private equity managers. The findings of Wharton professors Andrew Metrick and Ayako Yasuda show that, “on average, leveraged-buyout funds can expect to collect $10.35 in management fees for every $100 they manage, whereas about half that, $5.41 for …
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SRI reduced sub-prime exposure
An interesting review of the run-up to the sub-prime mortgage meltdown shows that SR investors started considering the implications of sub-prime business exposure back in 1999 and a number of institutional SR investors adjusted portfolio exposure accordingly. It shows that investors who take a broader view of business (social and environment as well as economic) …
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CSR is growing up
The recent launch of Supercapitalism by Robert Reich which criticises CSR has stimulated debate about its role in private enterprise. You can see The Economist’s take here and an interview with the author by BusinessWeek here. It is naive, even primitive, to argue that corporations have no ethical dimension, rather it is increasingly their role …
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CSR increases profitability
According to a survey of more than 500 business executives by Grant Thornton, executives believe that corporate responsibility programs can positively impact their business and help achieve strategic goals. While commentary by traditionalists might suggest that CSR will be a cost, without benefit, only a quarter of survey respondents agreed that profits need be sacrificed, …
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