Investors who blacklist Space Exploration Technologies Corp. out of governance qualms are too hung up on box-checking and risk depriving themselves of long-term financial gains, according to Aniket Shah of Jefferies.
“The idea that there’s an — in quotes — acceptable form of good governance” is one that “I highly question,” said Shah, who is the Wall Street investment bank’s global head of sustainability and transition strategy. “People who try to put governance into some kind of straitjacket are too simple-minded and, frankly speaking, not looking at data.”
The comments follow criticism from institutional investors spanning New York to Copenhagen, who say the unprecedented control Elon Musk has over SpaceX makes the stock too risky to hold. They note that Musk, who sits on over 80% of the voting rights, is the company’s chief executive, chief technical officer and chairman. It’s a setup that one pension fund has called “catastrophic,” and grounds enough for SpaceX to be blacklisted by investors.
What to make of SpaceX has divided market participants, with most of the controversy centered on the company’s valuation. Against that backdrop, its share-price moves have drawn intense scrutiny as investors and analysts look for signs that the initial enthusiasm was unjustified.
