Wall St.Journal 27Feb2020

B2| Thursday, February 27, 2020 **** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

INDEX TO BUSINESSES

These indexes cite notable references to most parent companies and businesspeople
in today’s edition. Articles on regional page inserts aren’t cited in these indexes.

A
Alphabet......................A2
Amazon.com.............B10
American Axle &
Manufacturing..........A7
Anglo American..........B2
Anthem.....................B12
Apple....................A7,B10
Arch Coal.....................B2
Arm Holdings............A10
Aviva...........................B2
B
Bank of America Merrill
Lynch.........................B6
Barkmere Group.......A10
BASF...........................A6
Bayer...........................B1
BlackRock...............B1,B2
Blackstone Group.......B6
BNP Paribas Asset
Management.............B2
C
Campari Group..........B10
Cathay Pacific Airways
...................................B10
Centene.....................B12
Chesapeake Energy..B11
Chevron.....................B11
Cigna..........................B12
Contemporary Amperex
Technology................B4
D
Deere...........................A7
Deutsche Bank....A10,B6

Deutsche Lufthansa

............................. A6,B10

F

Facebook....................B10

Fiat Chrysler

Automobiles...........B12

Flywire Payments.....B10

Friday Night..............B12

G-H

Goldman Sachs....B6,B10

Humana.....................B12

I-K

Inspire Brands.............B3

IQ Student

Accommodation........B6

K2 Intelligence..........A10

L

L Brands......................B3

LG Chem......................B4

M

Marriott International

...................................B10

M. Klein.....................A10

Molson Coors Beverage

.....................................A3

N-O

Nestlé...................B1,B10

Norges Bank...............B2

1933 Industries.........B12

Onyx Group...............B12

P

Panasonic....................B4

Papa John's

International.............B3

Peabody Energy..........B2

Peugeot.....................B12

Powerscourt Group...A10

PSA Group.................B12

R

Roblox..........................B4

S

Saras Trading............B11

Shearman & SterlingA10

Singapore Airlines....B10

SoftBank Group..........A1

Sprint........................A10

Standard Chartered..A10

Susman & Godfrey...A10

Sycamore Partners

Management.............B3

T

Tesla............................B4

Thyssenkrupp..............A6

Toyota Motor............B12

U

Uber Technologies.A1,B4

UBS Group................A10

UnitedHealth Group..B12

V-W

Vanguard Group..........B2

Vision Fund.................A1

Volkswagen...............B12

Walt Disney................B1

Westleaf....................B12

WeWork......................A1

INDEX TO PEOPLE

BUSINESS & FINANCE

Two of the world’s largest

investment funds have begun

selling down stakes in coal

miners, citing environmental

concerns, leaving shares of

some of the companies con-

centrated in the hands of a

few large U.S. investors.

As big fund managers

amend what they call their

ethical investment policies,

analysts say more selling

could follow.

In recent weeks, Norway’s

trillion-dollar sovereign-

wealth fund, Norges Bank,

and French giantBNP Paribas

Asset Managementhave sold

shares in companies that mine

thermal coal, includingAnglo

AmericanPLC. A few large

funds, including Vanguard

Groupand Dimensional Fund

Managers, now have outsize

holdings in many smaller coal-

mining companies.

Other large investors are

assessing their own policies

for thermal coal or extending

current ones. Thermal coal is

considered one of the biggest

contributors to climate change

by many scientists.

“Even if funds don’t have

these restrictions today, do

they want to have these prob-

lems going forward?” said Ben

Davis, a mining analyst at Li-

berum.

Norges Bank won’t invest

in companies that extract

more than 20 million metric

tons of thermal coal a year or

maintain coal-power capacity

of more than 10,000 mega-

watts. On Monday, it sold an-

other large slice of Anglo’s

shares, reducing its stake to

1.38% from 2.42% at the end

of last year, according to

FactSet.

BNP Paribas Asset Manage-

ment, which has more than

$490 billion under manage-

ment, recently began selling

shares in companies that de-

rive more than 10% of their

revenue from mining thermal

coal, a spokesman said.

BlackRockInc., by virtue of

being the world’s largest

money manager, is a major in-

vestor in thermal-coal miners

and utility companies. Larry

Fink, its chief executive, said

the company’s actively man-

aged debt-and-equity portfo-

lios will move away from ther-

mal coal this year as the

sector’s exposure to increased

regulation makes it less eco-

nomically viable.

BlackRock also said it

would closely scrutinize other

businesses that are heavily re-

liant on thermal coal.

Still, the impact will be

muted. BlackRock’s index-

tracking funds can still hold

such stocks, and its smaller

active-management business

will only exit companies that

generate more than 25% of

their revenue from thermal-

coal production.

Diversified giants such as

Anglo and Glencore PLC

should be exempt from the

firm’s limitations. Coal miners

such as Arch Coal Inc. and

Whitehaven Coal Ltd.—of

which BlackRock owns 7.4%

and 5%, respectively—are less

secure.

BlackRock also isn’t divest-

ing shares of coal-powered

utilities. It owns stakes of

more than 5% in American

Electric Power Co., Duke En-

ergy Corp. and Southern Co.

An ongoing danger for min-

ers and utilities, analysts say,

is that fund managers with no

current restrictions on coal

won’t want to risk owning

such companies in case their

firm’s environmental, social

and governance, or ESG poli-

cies change.

U.K.-basedAvivaPLC has

already sold its shares in 17

companies that drew more

than 30% of their revenue

from thermal-coal power gen-

eration or mining. But the

fund is looking at going fur-

ther by focusing on how much

coal companies mine or use,

rather than just portion of

revenue, according to a

spokesman.

A handful of funds hold

outsize positions in certain

coal miners and utilities. Van-

guard, BlackRock and Dimen-

sional together own almost

24% of the share capital of

Arch Coal, for instance. A unit

of Invesco, another fund that

cites its environmental creden-

tials, owns a further 21% of

the St. Louis-based miner.

A spokeswoman for Invesco

said the company supports the

move away from carbon-based

fuels to more sustainable

forms of energy but declined

to comment further.

“Vanguard is deeply con-

cerned about the long-term

impacts of sustainability risks,

such as thermal coal produc-

ers,” a spokeswoman for the

fund said.

A spokesman for Dimen-

sional said that some of its

funds take into account envi-

ronmental factors such as cli-

mate change.

For Vanguard and Black-

Rock, it isn’t clear how much

of their holdings in coal com-

panies are in index trackers.

Coal miner Peabody En-

ergy Corp. estimates that

much of the nearly 12% stake

these funds own in the com-

pany is in index trackers.

Dimensional owns a further

5.3% of Peabody, while activist

investor Elliott Management

Corp. owns 30%.

For every fund selling stock

citing environmental reasons,

there are many others willing

to invest, said Vic Svec, a

spokesman for Peabody. Be-

cause demand for coal re-

mains, policy-driven divest-

ment risks shifting its

production and use from

transparent public companies

with ESG standards to unlisted

ones without such concerns,

he said.

Some fund managers say

they prefer engaging with the

companies they own, rather

than simply exiting them. Ab-

erdeen Standard owns large

stakes in miners Anglo, Glen-

core and BHP Group Ltd., as

well as Enel SpA and RWE AG,

two European utilities that

generate some of their energy

through coal.

“We were vocal in pushing

both [utilities] to be as proac-

tive as possible in phasing out

their coal-powered genera-

tion,” said a spokeswoman for

Aberdeen Standard. RWE re-

cently bought several large re-

newable-energy businesses.

Shares in coal miners and

utilities have been under pres-

sure for years. Peabody has

fallen 85% since June 2018 and

Arch Coal has dropped about

40% over a similar period—

and they took another hit

Wednesday after U.S. regula-

tors rejected their plan to

combine some of their opera-

tions.

BYALISTAIRMACDONALD

Investment Funds Move to Exit From Sector

Shares of some of

the miners are now

held by just a few

large investors.

lion acquisition that Mr. Wen-
ning helped negotiate together
with Mr. Baumann.
Mr. Wenning has also played
a crucial role in navigating the
legal standoff with more than
42,000 plaintiffs. He is a mem-
ber of the supervisory board’s
glyphosate litigation committee
and almost all other board
committees. People familiar
with Bayer have described him
as being very involved in all as-
pects of the business.
Mr. Wenning said he is retir-
ing at a time when the company
is making progress on all its
various front lines—from man-
aging the legal battle to inte-
grating Monsanto and restruc-
turing its other businesses.
“We have made and con-
tinue to make progress in han-
dling the legal issues in the
U.S.That’swhynowisagood
time to hand over to my suc-
cessor,” Mr. Wenning said in a
statement.
A Bayer spokesman said
there were no other reasons be-
hind Mr. Wenning’s departure.
The company is currently in
settlement talks with U.S.

Continued from page B1

A
Arora, Nikesh..............A1
B
Benedetti, Alessandro
...................................A10
C
Chapek, Bob................B1
D-F
Dennis, Patrick............B1
Droege, Jason.............B4

Fink, Larry...................B2

G-I

Guthrie, Michael.........B4

Iger, Bob......................B2

J-K

James, Erika...............B4

Kellow, Glenn..............B2

M-N

Misra, Rajeev..............A1

Musk, Elon..................B4

North, James..............B3

Novick, Barbara..........B1

S

Sama, Alok.................A1

Schnatter, John..........B3

Seppala, James...........B6

Strickland, Deon.........B1

Svec, Vic......................B2

W

Winkeljohann, Norbert

.....................................B1

plaintiff attorneys, and inves-

tors expect the onerous legal

issue will soon be put to rest.

Its shares, which rose slightly

Wednesday, have climbed from

the depths of last year.

Messrs. Wenning and Bau-

mann—internally often re-

ferred to as “big and small

Werner”—have both come un-

der fire for their decision to

purchase Monsanto and with it

the Roundup litigation.

Last year Mr. Baumann lost

a shareholder confidence vote,

a first in German corporate

history. Mr. Wenning was also

rebuked as some 34% of share-

holders refused to ratify the

supervisory board’s actions.

Both men have defended the

deal.

Janne Werning, an expert

on environmental, social and

governance issues at asset

manager Bayer Investor Union

Investment, said appointing a

new chairman was the right

move, albeit surprising.

“Mr. Wenning was closely

tied to the current difficult sit-

uation and what is decisive

now is to put in place an inde-

pendent oversight of Bayer’s

strategic development,” Mr.

Werning said in an email.

He added, though, that he

would have hoped for a chair-

man, and likewise a new board

member, with more expertise

in Bayer’s industry.

Mr. Winkeljohann, 62, was

Europe CEO of Pricewater-

houseCoopers until 2018.

Bayer

Chairman

Leaves

“Given that our only product

is a creative product, I’ve been

completely immersed in editing

and looking at product and giv-

ing notes on product my entire

Disney career,” he said. Story-

telling, he added, is “actually

something I feel very comfort-

able with.”

In his 18 years at Disney’s

film studio, Mr. Chapek was

known among colleagues for a

focus on data and business exe-

cution, rather than worrying

about relationships with the

creative community and busi-

ness partners. When he ran

home video from 2006 to 2009,

he championed a highly lucra-

tive “moratorium” strategy in

which Disney would make mov-

ies unavailable for a while and

then rerelease them with much

fanfare.

In recent years, Mr. Iger

communicated to Mr. Chapek

that he might be in line to be-

come CEO, according to an-

other former senior executive.

Mr. Chapek beat out at least

one potential rival inside the

company: Kevin Mayer, who

now oversees Disney’s direct-

to-consumer operations, in-

cluding its Disney+ streaming

service.

—Ben Fritz and Chip Cutter

contributed to this article.

ate what they describe as his di-
rect and blunt personality.
“There’s no drama,” another
former Disney executive said.
Like Mr. Iger, Mr. Chapek
shares a love for all things Dis-
ney. At a town hall welcoming
Fox employees after Disney ac-
quired most of 21st Century
Fox’s entertainment assets, Mr.
Chapek’s enthusiasm made a
strong impression on the new-
est “cast members,” as the
company calls employees. He
spoke passionately about the
theme parks and the Disney
brand with an energy that was
matched only by Mr. Iger’s, one
attendee said.
Mr. Chapek’s résumé
doesn’t include oversight of as
many creative parts of the
company as Mr. Iger’s did
when he landed the top job in

2005. But during the course of
      his career, he has worked
      closely with both the movie
      and television teams at Disney
      when he headed home enter-
      tainment.
      In an interview Tuesday, Mr.
      Chapek acknowledged that film
      and television production was
      one area in which he would
      have to immerse himself. His
      theme-park and home-enter-
      tainment stints provided an ed-
      ucation, he said.

Continued from page B1

Disney

Brings On

Blunt Boss

Robert Iger,

who remains

chairman, is

known as more

social than his

successor as

CEO.

Climate concern led BlackRock to say it would divest from coal miners. It owns 7.4% of Whitehaven Coal, which runs this Australia mine.

WHITEHAVEN COAL/REUTERS

deal ahead of a pending ad-

ministrative trial.

Last June, Peabody and

Arch agreed to combine opera-

tions in those states, where

both companies produce ther-

mal coal that utilities use in

power plants. The plan called

for integrating Peabody’s

North Antelope Rochelle and

Arch’s Black Thunder proper-

ties, two mines that abut each

other in Wyoming, among

other changes.

Peabody and Arch say the

joint venture would generate

$120 million in cost savings

each year over a decade. Pro-

ducers of coal are under pres-

sure to find savings, with de-

mand for thermal coal

weakening as utilities tap nat-

ural gas and renewable-energy

resources to generate electric-

ity.

The proposed joint venture

would eliminate “current

head-to-head competition be-

tween Peabody and Arch, re-

placing that competition with

a single producer with a

greater incentive and ability to

reduce output or increase

prices,” the FTC said in an ad-

ministrative complaint that

seeks to block the combina-

tion.

The agency said there were

few other coal producers on

the Wyoming side of the re-

gion, where both companies

operate, and those other min-

ing companies are smaller en-

terprises.

Shares of Peabody and Arch

were off 14.7% and 7.7%, re-

spectively Wednesday.

Executives from both com-

panies said in a written state-

ment that they intend to con-

tinue pursuing the joint

venture, fighting the FTC’s re-

jection of the deal in the fed-

eral courts.

Coal faces “intense compe-

tition from natural gas and

other alternate fuels. We be-

lieve that the commission has

reached an incorrect decision

that should be rapidly reme-

died within the court system,”

Peabody Chief Executive Glenn

Kellow said.

U.S. regulators rejected a

plan from mining companies

Peabody Energy Corp. and

Arch CoalInc. to combine

their operations in a major

coal-production region, saying

it would limit competition and

raise prices.

The Federal Trade Commis-

sion voted to block Peabody

and Arch’s plans to create a

venture to jointly run seven

coal mines in Wyoming and

Colorado.

The agency said Wednesday

it would seek a temporary re-

straining order and prelimi-

nary injunction in a federal

court in Missouri to halt the

BYMICAHMAIDENBERG

FTC Seeks to Block Coal Venture

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