Responsible Investor

services group, has been attacked by BankTrack, an NGO that monitors project finance activity, over the bank’s financing of Gunns, the Australian logging company.
Banktrack has launched a website called www.tellmrsmith.org, urging ANZ customers to write to Mr Smith over alleged environmental, economic and health impacts, which it says could be caused by Gunns following financing for a pulp mill in Tasmania. Banktrack says the pulp mill could dramatically increase logging and burning of native forest.

France is set to become one of the first countries to fully ratify the United Nations Convention on Corruption, under a draft law submitted by French Justice Minister Rachida Dati

Venture capital investments in renewable energy could reap annualised returns of more than 50% this year, according to a report by London-based research boutique New Energy Finance, reports the on-line edition of Financial News.

The newspaper reports that investor commitments to the venture capital climate change sector this year are booming as a result and have reached $6bn (€4.3bn), already more than the total for last year, according to private equity research firm Venture Business Research.
One of Malaysia’s first sustainable investment funds has been launched by Kuala Lumpur-based HwangDBS Investment Management in partnership with France’s BNP Paribas Asset Management. The Environment Opportunities Fund will invest in three environmental-related sectors — renewable energy, water treatment and waste management.

UK institutional investors are expected to join US peers seeking a $100m-plus settlement from Bear Stearns, the US investment bank over claims that hedge-fund managers at the banking group mislead them about their investments, reports Financial News. The legal action against Bear Stearns has been launched by Wall Street lawyer Jake Zamansky, following the collapse of two $1bn-plus hedge funds run by the bank.

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