ABSTRACT
The get-rich-on-coal trend that so worried climate activists about the Coal India IPO continued into 2011. Mongolia's vast national coal reserves were the next big prospect for flotation. Every investment bank sent its champions to Ulan Bator to fight for a piece of this gold rush. Some were so keen, the Financial Times reported, that they ended up brawling in a bar. Elsewhere in the capital markets, commodities trading giant Glencore was positioning to raise multiple billions in an IPO before moving on to a merger with mining giant Xstrata. Coal was written all over these deals, and ‘risk’ posed by climate regulators living up to their responsibilities and promises would not be featuring high on the list of issues drawn to shareholders' attention. In Glencore's 1,637-page prospectus for its initial public offering, only a single paragraph noted climate risk.
