China Assets Blacklisted by Dutch Fund Manager Using New ESG Tool

(Bloomberg) — A Dutch investment firm with $118 billion under management has started blacklisting a number of assets from China, after developing a new screening tool to catch environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks.

Van Lanschot Kempen NV, a 400-year-old firm, has created a test that includes a national corruption score, and will start excluding sovereign bonds and state-backed entities from places that don’t pass, said Nikesh Patel, senior executive at the wealth manager. The new strategy will apply to all portfolios across the entire firm, though Patel declined to say how much it’s divesting in total.