JP Morgan winds up Asia carbon team in Singapore, source says
US investment bank JP Morgan has shut down its four-member Asia carbon team based in Singapore to streamline operations, a source familiar with the matter said
Reuters in Business Spectator | 9 Apr 2010
The decision comes after the bank bought major carbon project developer EcoSecurities, leading to a decision that JP Morgan's Singapore operations and projects could be absorbed by EcoSecurities' much larger network in Asia, the source said.
The team was formally wound up on March 31, the source added.
"From a business point of view it does make sense," the source said.
"Because EcoSecurities has the critical mass in each location, they are in a better position, from the (carbon) origination point of view, to be in that market."
JP Morgan acquired unlisted EcoSecurities late last year.
The firm is one of the largest investors in clean energy projects registered under the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).
EcoSecurities is now the primary vehicle for carbon project development for JP Morgan.
The bank declined to comment specifically on the departures, but said:
"JP Morgan has been expanding its investment in the fast-growing carbon markets and the EcoSecurities acquisition underscores the firm's commitment to the carbon emission reduction markets."
The bank's team sourced carbon offsets by helping develop clean-energy projects in Asia.
Its projects include mass-market deployment of more efficient cook stoves in Bangladesh.
"It sounds funny because we acquired EcoSecurities and, to be honest, in that sense, it came as a bit of a shock," said the source, referring to the decision to disband the team.
Asked how many projects have been transferred to EcoSecurities, the source declined to say, but added:
"What we went through was a very diligent process of reviewing what projects we were doing, what made sense, what Eco had the capacity to take on."
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