Pimco stops participating in bond offerings of Adani Ports & SEZ

Existing holdings to run till maturity; Australia coal project key factor

Pacific Investment Management Co, which is seeking to decarbonise its investment portfolio, has stopped participating in the bond offerings of Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone because of its links to a controversial coal project in Australia, according to a person familiar.
 
Pimco, owned by Germany’s Allianz SE, did not participate in Adani Ports’ $500-million bond sale in January, the person said, though existing holdings in Adani Ports would be allowed to run to maturity. A spokesperson for Allianz declined to comment.
 
Adani’s Australian mining unit — last year re-branded as Bravus Mining & Resources — has drawn fierce opposition from environmental groups over the 10-million-tons-per-annum Carmichael thermal coal project.

 

The company’s plans to transport the coal to the Abbot Point export terminal — controlled by the broader Adani Group — via a new 200 kilometer (124 mile) rail link is set to open up a region of previously untouched bushland to mining.
 
Allianz belongs to a group of insurers and pension funds that have pledged to run carbon-neutral investment portfolios by 2050 as part of the so-called Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance. In January, the group said it may cut investments in the stocks and bonds of companies that weren’t making sufficient progress toward that goal.
 
Adani is self financing Carmichael after local banks refused to back it, while a number of companies, including Greyhound Australia and engineering consultant Aurecon, have ruled out doing contract work for the project, which has become a lightning rod for climate protesters in Australia amid a broader backlash against the most polluting fossil fuel.

 
A spokesperson for Adani Ports did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Adani Ports jumped 5.2 per cent in Mumbai on Monday.