DAVOS, Switzerland – BlackRock, the world’s largest money manager, has recently been in talks with various governments about potential investment opportunities in Ukraine – despite the war with Russia that shows no sign of ending anytime soon, On The Money has learned.
News of BlackRock and its voluble CEO Larry Fink’s role in mediating investment opportunities in Ukraine with foreign governments including sovereign wealth funds hasn’t been previously reported. A press official for BlackRock declined to comment on the negotiations.
“(BlackRock) is advising a bunch of governments on how to figure out ways to attract capital to Ukraine,” said a person with direct knowledge of the matter. “(The firm) is helping everyone think through all the various sectors and industries that could attract foreign capital.”
The person described the discussions as early stage talks, and a transition from the firm’s previous role as financial adviser to the country, which has been put on hold as its war with Russia entered its third straight year with President Trump unable to broker a peace. The plan is to attract capital — including money from sovereign wealth funds — to seed an $800 billion reconstruction fund, On The Money has learned.
The talks are starting to heat up as top financiers and world leaders this week gather here at the home of the World Economic Forum, where Fink is serving as the conference’s “chairman” after the ousting last year of longtime forum chief Klaus Schwab over alleged financial and workplace improprieties.
Investors and world leaders — such as Middle East sovereign wealth funds that Fink is close to – like the potential investment opportunities in Ukraine because of its educated workforce and the resiliency of its people. Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky struck a deal over the excavation of rare earth minerals that could be a boon for business if it ever gets off the ground.
But major obstacles in attracting investment dollars remain. About a quarter of the country’s population has been displaced since the 2022 Russian invasion. Ukraine has a history of corruption that needs to be weeded out.
Most of all it comes down to the war that never seems to end. “How can you get people to invest in a place that’s being bombed every day?” said one Wall Street executive involved in the matter.
That said, the talks continue. Fink met with Ukraine leaders here on the fund’s progress. He is also said to have a close relationship with Zelensky, and the US president, which during his long career as a real estate executive leaned on the BlackRock CEO as his financial adviser.
Trump and Zelensky are attending the forum. Following Trump’s bombshell speech on Wednesday in which he backed off his Greenland and tariff threats, Zelensky on Thursday gave a speech titled “Achieving Security and Cooperation in a Fragmented World.”
Zelensky was also slated to privately meet with world leaders and Trump, who is desperate to fulfill a key campaign promise of ending the bloody conflict that is currently at a stalemate with Russia holding about 20% of Ukraine territory and its president Vladimir Putin so far refusing to agree to terms for a ceasefire.
It’s unclear how much any of these talks will accomplish since this time last year, it appeared that Putin was ready to make a deal only to renege.
In taking over for Schwab, Fink told those gathered in his opening remarks on Tuesday that the conference often “feels out of step with the moment: elites in an age of populism, an established institution in an era of deep institutional distrust. And there’s truth in that critique.”
People close to Fink say he’s looking to make the panels and discussions here more relevant, even populist in tone, given the recent political backlash against globalism in the states, and policies like ESG that some say stoked inflation because it led to a decline in energy exploration.
The conference, known by its acronym WEF, is the ultimate globalist schmoozefest. CEOs, heads of major sovereign wealth funds, presidents (including our own) prime ministers and scores of bankers descend upon this posh ski town as they have for the past 53 years to try to figure out how to make the world a better place, often with mixed results.
Fads such as Environmental Social Governance investing, which introduced woke politics to money management, came out of the forum, as did codified racialized hiring practices such as the Diversity Equity and Inclusion mandates that were corporate policy for ever big company until a 2023 Supreme Court ruling and efforts by the Trump administration to ban the practice.
Despite its public rep as a globalist gabfest, the real action at Davos has always been in meetings that take place in private venues in this town, where bankers attempt to strike deals with clients, and world leaders try to come up with solutions to big problems like the war in Ukraine.
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