Lazard’s ESG co-head Nikita Singhal departs amid reshuffle Fund arm scraps co-head structure as backlash against ESG ramps up in the US
ESG has become increasingly politicised in the US, and rhetoric has heated up in the run up to the presidential election.
Lazard’s ESG co-head Nikita Singhal departs amid reshuffle
Fund arm scraps co-head structure as backlash against ESG ramps up in the US
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Tuesday, 30 January 2024 at 07:53
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Lazard's New York-based ESG boss Nikita Singhal departs the business after five years PHOTO: JEENAH MOON/GETTY IMAGES
Lazard Asset Management's ESG boss Nikita Singhal has left the firm amid an overhaul of its sustainability business.
The $193.6bn fund group has scrapped the co-head structure for its sustainable investment team, according to a person familiar with the situation.
The move sees Singhal, who is based in New York, depart the business after five years, leaving Jennifer Anderson, who is based in London, solely in charge of Lazard’s green investing strategy.
The reshuffle of its sustainable finance chiefs comes at a tough time for the ESG sector, which is suffering from waning investor demand and a backlash against so-called ‘woke’ investing.
ESG has become increasingly politicised in the US, and rhetoric has heated up in the run up to the presidential election.
READ Greenwashing, geopolitics and the US election: The biggest risks for ESG in 2024
Lawmakers in Republican-controlled states including Texas and Kentucky have blacklisted BlackRock, Schroders and other asset managers they have accused of “boycotting” the fossil fuel industry. The Lazard US Sustainable Equity Portfolio is among the 350 funds that Texas public pensions are banned from investing in.
Republicans in New Hampshire have taken things a step further, tabling a bill that would make using ESG criteria for state funds a crime, punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
Singhal was named co-head of ESG and sustainable investment alongside Anderson in January 2019.
Ashish Bhutani, chief executive of Lazard's fund arm at the time, said having two bosses in key markets would ramp up the firm’s “long-standing efforts to integrate ESG considerations into our research and portfolio management capabilities across the business”.
Prior to joining Lazard in 2018, Singhal was a sustainable portfolio analyst at ClearBridge Investments and an analyst at the International Finance Corporation, the private investing arm of the World Bank.
The shake-up in Lazard's sustainability team comes ahead of its full-year results on 1 February.
The firm, which is headquartered in Bermuda, has struggled to turn its fortunes around in a difficult market environment that has seen assets fall and deals slump. It posted a net loss of $139m over the first nine months of 2023 compared with a net profit of $315m in 2022.
This has resulted in a wave of job cuts, with Lazard axing 10% of its global headcount last April as part of a cost-saving push to "right-size for the current environment" and free up cash for investments in new growth areas.
To contact the author of this story with feedback or news, email Kristen McGachey