Diversify

BlackRock looks to diversify with electric vehicles and Saudi pipelines

Snacks / Wednesday, October 14, 2020

Check your 401(k) or brokerage account... Odds are high that you've got some $$$ in a BlackRock fund, since it's the world's largest money manager with $7.8T in assets under management (AUM) β€” that's worth almost 4 stimulus packages. Much of that is dominated by index-tracking ETFs, aka "baskets" of stocks that can track an index like the S&P 500. But some funds are more startup-y:

  • Electric vehicle startup Arrival just raised $118M from BlackRock funds, reportedly giving the British EV maker a $3.5B valuation. Hyundai and UPS also invested.
  • Green and lean: Arrival claims its electric-run city buses and vans can travel 300 miles without recharging and lower ownership costs by 50%.

Not so green... BlackRock is also reportedly looking to invest in a $10B+ Saudi Aramco oil pipeline deal. On the sustainability spectrum, BlackRock had a quinoa salad for lunch with Arrival and fried dough for dinner with Aramco fossil fuels.

BlackRock wants to diversify (and hedge)... instead of depending only on one food group. Diversification is meant to reduce risk by spreading investments across sectors/companies that aren't correlated. With the oil investment, BlackRock would also be hedging against potential downturns in EVs. If the oil biz loses, the EV biz is probably doing well (and vice versa).

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