The giant asset manager BlackRock's efforts to start a new stock exchange in Texas may help it get back into the state's good graces after highly publicized disputes with Republican officeholders over environmental, social, and corporate governance investing.
BlackRock's plans to invest in the $120 million Dallas-based Texas Stock Exchange, which is meant to challenge the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ, represents the latest of several recent overtures to Texas Republicans after a spat over the role that ESG should play in the firm's investment decisions. BlackRock stood to lose out dearly if Texas followed through on its threats to cut it off from business.
At its peak in 2023, the dispute over ESG investing became so heated that Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick called for the state to "blacklist" firms such as BlackRock that prioritized ESG.
BlackRock has since backed away from using the term ESG altogether. Some view BlackRock's decision to invest in a new Texas stock exchange as part of a larger campaign by CEO Larry Fink to mollify the state's conservatives.
Helping finance the stock exchange represents the latest iteration of BlackRock “glad-handing Texas legislators and elected officials," Will Hild, the executive director of Consumer Report, told the Washington Examiner in an interview.
BlackRock holds more than $320 billion in global energy investments, including approximately $120 billion investments in Texas-based publicly traded energy companies — meaning that a full boycott from Texas, if realized, could have proved punishing for the company.
BlackRock "is basically trying to mend fences right now without actually giving up any of the commitments they've made to the left," Hild said.
Much of it will depend on how the exchange is created, and how closely the exchange hews to its goal of achieving a better operating environment than the NYSE or NASDAQ.
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