In this episode, Amanda Hsieh talks with James Rasteh, the founder of Coast Capital, an investment management firm with an engaged approach to investing in public companies. Coast Capital works with a collection of leading CEOs and sector experts to identify, conduct due diligence on, and help create value from the companies it invests in. Coast actively works to improve the ESG metrics of its invested companies. Before starting Coast Capital, James was the founder of White Eagle Partners; a European event-driven fund started in partnership with a private equity firm. Previously, James was an International Portfolio Manager at JANA Partners, an event-driven and activist hedge fund in New York. He is a guest lecturer at Columbia University, Oxford and Warwick University.
Listen as Amanda and James take an in-depth look at the hot topic of ESG investing. In short, ESG investing is guiding the world down a more sustainable course by focusing on investments that bring about positive changes. Learn more about divestment vs. engagement, how companies can manage activist investors, and considerations for balancing the ‘E’, ‘S’, and ‘G’ in these investment portfolios.
James is a leader in the ESG investing space; therefore, this work is personal and it comes naturally to him.  His passion for ESG-related work started in school, working on completing his volunteer service hours. James believes that ESG investing should be driven by those who care about these issues. We hope that this is true of ESG Decoded listeners.
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