Governance

Vedanta Wal-Mart and Freeport most excluded companies in European investor sample: Novethic

15 most blacklisted companies listed by large investors.

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Vedanta Resources, Wal-Mart and Freeport-McMoRan are the three most excluded companies from the investor portfolios of a sample of 15 major European pension funds and asset managers, according to a study by Novethic, the French sustainability research and media company. Vedanta, the FTSE100-listed mining company, which has been heavily criticised over human rights concerns in India, is boycotted by two-thirds of the 15 investors.
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Just over half (53%) also blacklisted Wal-Mart, the US supermarket giant and one of the world’s biggest companies. The company has been accused of preventing employees from affiliating to labour unions.
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Barrick Gold, which campaigners have criticised over environmental pollution at its mining operations in Papua New Guinea, has been dropped from the portfolios of five of the investors (33%)
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The investors surveyed were ABP, Amundi, AP7, BNP Paribas Investment Partners, Dexia Asset Management, Ethias, Federal Finance, KLP, La Financière Responsible, PFA Pension, PGGM, PNO Media, SNS Asset Management, Sparinvest and The Government Pension Fund Global, Norway.The list of most excluded companies is:
(% of investor sample excluding)

  • Vedanta Resources – 67%
  • Wal-Mart – 53%
  • Freeport-McMoRan – 40%
  • Barrick Gold – 33%
  • Chevron – 27%
  • Dongfeng Motor Group – 27%
  • PetroChina – 27%
  • Sterlite Industries (filiale de Vedanta) – 27%
  • Alpha Natural Resources – 20%
  • BAE Systems – 20%
  • Halliburton – 20%
  • Norilsk Nickel – 20%
  • Potash Corporation – 20%
  • Rio Tinto – 20%
  • Samling Global – 20%
  • Total – 20%

Link to report – in French