UCL’s controversial investment fund has millions of pounds tied up in mining firms, oil and gas, tax-dodging internet gi- ants, and even the Daily Mail, The Cheese Grater can reveal.
A copy of a report into the state of col- lege’s nest egg, dating to July 2015, lays bare the extent to which management have taken on board the concerns raised by the ostentatious protests of Fossil Free UCL. Despite semi-naked undergrads covering themselves in oil and Michael Arthur and Rex Knight, UCL’s answer to the Chuckle Brothers, clambering over students playing dead in front of the bosses’ basement lair at 188 Tottenham Court Road, the protests seem not to have pricked their consciences.
7.8% of the £133m fund is still tied up in energy companies and mining concerns – including oil giants Shell, utilities rip- off merchants EON, and loathed mining companies BHP Billiton and Glencore Xstrata, the latter of which has been ac- cused of violating UN sanctions (see CGs 41 & 45) – and offer college decent and more or less guaranteed yields on safe in- vestments, despite continued outcry from ever vocal campaigners. However, even if UCL were to follow the likes of Glasgow University and divest entirely from its dirty fuel portfolio, there are still plenty of corporate betes noires for campaigners to rally against.
UCL has investments totalling a stonking £4,273,366 in internet giants with an aversion to tax – and in some cases, a history of inflicting sub-Dick- ensian treatment on its workers. 3.3% of the fund is invested in Google, Apple and Amazon, despite concerns over the dot-com behemoths, who get away with handing over piddling quantities to the state every year. Those still hoping for Bentham’s egalitarian utopia to lead from the vanguard in the struggle against global capitalism are likely to be further disap- pointed by the depth and breadth of its investments in banking and finance: college is betting a whopping 15.7% on good performances from the pantomime villains of the 2008 crash, including Bar- clays, HSBC, Citigroup and JP Morgan.
Time to start spreading the word of these nerafious dealings, right? Well, yes – but you can bet against seeing an upskirt shot of Rex Knight on the MailOnline’s sidebar of shame anytime soon. UCL owns £674k’s worth of shares in the Daily Mail & General Trust, publishers of that paper and website you pretend not to enjoy.