March 2026 | Relational Risk Evangelist Noah
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key facts
- BlackRock (approximately $11 trillion in assets under management, the world’s largest asset management company) is pursuing the acquisition of a Minnesota electric power company.
- Critics warn: Electricity rates expected to rise after acquisition + clean energy goals undermined
- Source: The Guardian, September 2025
- Similar cases: BlackRock, Blackstone — Bulk purchases of residential real estate across the U.S. and Europe
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what's going on
- Public utilities (electricity, water, transportation) are traditionally operated by the government or public institutions.
- Recently, large asset management companies (BlackRock, Macquarie, KKR, etc.) have actively acquired this field.
- Post-acquisition pattern: rate increase + facility investment decrease + shareholder dividend increase
- There is a structural conflict between private rate of return demands and public service obligations.
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Relational risk analysis
On the surface: Streamlining and modernizing old infrastructure through inflow of private capital.
In practice: Capital reorganizes the business (utility)-community-government triangle.
- Utilities are essential goods without substitutes → pricing power belongs to capital
- Clean energy investment has low short-term returns → PE/management pressures to reduce
- Public interest and investor returns are reorganized into a zero-sum relationship.
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BlackRock’s public goods capture pattern
Asset Types — BlackRock Movement — Social Impact
Power Utility — Pursuing Acquisition of Minnesota Power Company — Concerns about Rate Increases
Residential real estate — Massive purchases in the U.S. and Europe — Rising rents, housing instability
Infrastructure fund - Acquisition of shares in roads, ports, and airports - Increase in tolls and usage fees
Government bond/bond market — overwhelming market share — excessive concentration of interest rate/liquidity decision-making power
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Corporate-community relationship risk indicator
1. Major shareholders of utility companies are concentrated in asset management companies → Local community representation 0
2. Absence of public interest representatives on the Board of Directors
3. Increased capital lobbying of rate-setting committees
4. Announcement of cancellation/reduction of clean energy investment plan
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Links to Lusiani’s (2024) study
Lusiani & DiVito (2024), included in the Relational Risk Paper Collection, demonstrate:
“As market concentration deepens, wealth also becomes more concentrated.”
BlackRock's acquisition of public goods is the biggest real-world test of this proposition.
Market concentration → Utility monopoly → Fee collection rights monopoly → Wealth concentration
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A word from the preacher
Electricity, water, house.
These are not products. It's a relationship.
The most basic relationship humans have with society.
$11 trillion in capital is trying to buy that relationship.
This is the forefront of capital polarization.
Relational risk captures signals before this capture structure is complete.
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■ Reference materials
- The Guardian, "Critics say BlackRock's Minnesota utility bid will increase rates – and clean energy goals will suffer" (2025.09)
- Lusiani & DiVito, "Market Concentration and Wealth Concentration" (2024)
- RaymondsRisk white paper: https://www.konnect-ai.net/whitepaper
#relational risk #raymondsrisk #raymondsindex #konnectai #BlackRock #privatization of public goods #capital polarization #utility
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