Reclaim Finance has identified the investors who participated in TotalEnergies\u2019 latest bond issuance, a US$4.25 billion bond package from last April. Among them are the American asset managers, BlackRock and Vanguard, and the French banks, BNP Paribas and Cr\u00e9dit Agricole. By agreeing to lend money to TotalEnergies on a very long term basis (until 2064), these investors are not only enabling the oil & gas major to finance its devastating projects, but are also actively betting against the energy transition, as TotalEnergies’ current strategy does not allow it to follow a realistic trajectory to limit global warming to 1.5\u00b0C.<\/p>\n<\/div>
Bonds are loans issued on the financial markets that enable a company such as TotalEnergies to finance its activities. Bonds are TotalEnergies’ primary source of financing (1), allowing it to finance the development of new oil and gas projects, which are incompatible with limiting global warming to 1.5\u00b0C. These transactions are increasingly criticized (2), in a context where some banks, notably French, have pledged to stop directly financing TotalEnergies’ controversial projects such as EACOP and Papua LNG.<\/p>\n<\/div>
The investors in TotalEnergies’ latest bonds<\/b><\/h2><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>This three-bond issue, completed on April 5, 2024, is the company’s largest since 2019. Carried out with the help of seven banks (3), including France’s BPCE Group, it has enabled TotalEnergies to raise $4.25 billion from investors.<\/p>\n
According to information obtained from the Bloomberg terminal, at least 80 investors contributed to raising the requested amount, including 3 French investors, Cr\u00e9dit Agricole (notably via its subsidiary Amundi), BNP Paribas and BPCE Groupe\/Natixis (4). The amount raised is dedicated to \u201cgeneral corporate purposes\u201d and can be used by TotalEnergies as the company sees fit, such as its plans to develop new oil and gas projects in 53 countries, including Mozambique, Papua New Guinea and South Africa (5).<\/p>\n
\n- The asset managers with the largest investments are Vanguard, BlackRock and Capital Group (more than $394 million in total).<\/li>\n
- In the European Union, TotalEnergies’ investors for this deal are Germany’s Deutsche Bank and Union Investment, France’s BPCE Groupe\/Natixis, BNP Paribas and Cr\u00e9dit Agricole\/Amundi, and the Netherlands’ Aegon and Robeco.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>
EU asset managers involved in TotalEnergies’ latest bond (millions of dollars invested):<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\nAsset managers<\/b><\/th>\n Country<\/b><\/th>\n Amount invested in the bonds issued in April (mln $)<\/b><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n\n\nDeutsche Bank<\/td>\n Germany<\/td>\n 1.4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \nUnion Investment<\/td>\n Germany<\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \nNatixis<\/td>\n France<\/td>\n 0.6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \nAegon<\/td>\n Netherlands<\/td>\n 0.5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \nBNP Paribas<\/td>\n France<\/td>\n 0.3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \nCr\u00e9dit Agricole<\/td>\n France<\/td>\n 0.3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \nRobeco<\/td>\n Netherlands<\/td>\n 0.2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n* Data as at 19.07.2024. The information obtained from the Bloomberg terminal does not give us access to all the investments made. We only have access to around 20% of the amount raised by TotalEnergies, so it is important to note that the amounts communicated are significantly underestimated.<\/p>\n<\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/span>Key investments to secure TotalEnergies’ financing for decades to come<\/h2><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>Bonds account for 70% of TotalEnergies’ financing sources between 2016 and 2023. While banks assist the company in issuing the bond, it is investors who purchase the bonds, providing TotalEnergies with fresh capital. These new bond purchasers are turning a blind eye to the need to end support for fossil fuel expansion and sanction companies that pursue activities incompatible with limiting global warming to 1.5\u00b0C. TotalEnergies falls into this category, as the public company developing the most new oil and gas production projects in the world. Every investor involved in this transaction is therefore contributing to worsening the climate crisis.<\/p>\n
Worse still, a study (6) based on Bloomberg data shows that TotalEnergies is issuing bonds with increasingly longer maturities. The average maturity of TotalEnergies bonds was 22 years between 2020 and 2024, compared with 6 years between 2000 and 2004 (the average maturity remained stable over the same period for the market as a whole).<\/p>\n
The fact that investors are agreeing to lend money to the oil and gas major for ever longer periods, without blinking an eye, even though the oil and gas sector is doomed to decline, raises serious questions about the financial market’s ability to take climate risk into account. But this trend also reveals that investors in TotalEnergies\u2019 bonds are actively betting against the transition. Indeed, they have agreed to lend money until 2064, without imposing any conditions regarding the company’s climate strategy, which is far from being 1.5\u00b0C aligned. Their investments could (and should) have been conditional.<\/p>\n<\/div>
This three-bond issue, completed on April 5, 2024, is the company’s largest since 2019. Carried out with the help of seven banks (3), including France’s BPCE Group, it has enabled TotalEnergies to raise $4.25 billion from investors.<\/p>\n
According to information obtained from the Bloomberg terminal, at least 80 investors contributed to raising the requested amount, including 3 French investors, Cr\u00e9dit Agricole (notably via its subsidiary Amundi), BNP Paribas and BPCE Groupe\/Natixis (4). The amount raised is dedicated to \u201cgeneral corporate purposes\u201d and can be used by TotalEnergies as the company sees fit, such as its plans to develop new oil and gas projects in 53 countries, including Mozambique, Papua New Guinea and South Africa (5).<\/p>\n
- \n
- The asset managers with the largest investments are Vanguard, BlackRock and Capital Group (more than $394 million in total).<\/li>\n
- In the European Union, TotalEnergies’ investors for this deal are Germany’s Deutsche Bank and Union Investment, France’s BPCE Groupe\/Natixis, BNP Paribas and Cr\u00e9dit Agricole\/Amundi, and the Netherlands’ Aegon and Robeco.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>
EU asset managers involved in TotalEnergies’ latest bond (millions of dollars invested):<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n\n\n
\n Asset managers<\/b><\/th>\n Country<\/b><\/th>\n Amount invested in the bonds issued in April (mln $)<\/b><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n\n \n Deutsche Bank<\/td>\n Germany<\/td>\n 1.4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Union Investment<\/td>\n Germany<\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Natixis<\/td>\n France<\/td>\n 0.6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Aegon<\/td>\n Netherlands<\/td>\n 0.5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n BNP Paribas<\/td>\n France<\/td>\n 0.3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Cr\u00e9dit Agricole<\/td>\n France<\/td>\n 0.3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Robeco<\/td>\n Netherlands<\/td>\n 0.2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n * Data as at 19.07.2024. The information obtained from the Bloomberg terminal does not give us access to all the investments made. We only have access to around 20% of the amount raised by TotalEnergies, so it is important to note that the amounts communicated are significantly underestimated.<\/p>\n<\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/span>Key investments to secure TotalEnergies’ financing for decades to come<\/h2><\/span>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>Bonds account for 70% of TotalEnergies’ financing sources between 2016 and 2023. While banks assist the company in issuing the bond, it is investors who purchase the bonds, providing TotalEnergies with fresh capital. These new bond purchasers are turning a blind eye to the need to end support for fossil fuel expansion and sanction companies that pursue activities incompatible with limiting global warming to 1.5\u00b0C. TotalEnergies falls into this category, as the public company developing the most new oil and gas production projects in the world. Every investor involved in this transaction is therefore contributing to worsening the climate crisis.<\/p>\n
Worse still, a study (6) based on Bloomberg data shows that TotalEnergies is issuing bonds with increasingly longer maturities. The average maturity of TotalEnergies bonds was 22 years between 2020 and 2024, compared with 6 years between 2000 and 2004 (the average maturity remained stable over the same period for the market as a whole).<\/p>\n
The fact that investors are agreeing to lend money to the oil and gas major for ever longer periods, without blinking an eye, even though the oil and gas sector is doomed to decline, raises serious questions about the financial market’s ability to take climate risk into account. But this trend also reveals that investors in TotalEnergies\u2019 bonds are actively betting against the transition. Indeed, they have agreed to lend money until 2064, without imposing any conditions regarding the company’s climate strategy, which is far from being 1.5\u00b0C aligned. Their investments could (and should) have been conditional.<\/p>\n<\/div>
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