Funds Targeted In Divestment Campaign
- 02/29/2008
A pressure group against Sudan-related investments is poised to launch an industry-wide campaign that aims to hold shareholder votes on the issue at hundreds of funds. Investors Against Genocide has submitted genocide-free investing proposals at 58 funds at Fidelity Investments, Vanguard Group, T. Rowe Price, Barclays Global Investors and Franklin Templeton Investments. Despite efforts by Fidelity to receive Securities and Exchange Commission support to bypass votes on the proposals, more than 20 Fidelity funds face votes on March 19, April 16 and May 14. Meeting dates for the other funds have not been set.
Eric Cohen, chairman of Investors Against Genocide, said that while he does not expect to win the votes at first, he was hopeful that as public awareness grows the group will have more success. “The challenge is to get the word out,” said Cohen. “Little by little investors will start to notice.” He said that while he does not want funds to “adopt every social problem,” there is “overwhelming support from people that they don’t want their money connected to genocide.”
- 02/29/2008
A pressure group against Sudan-related investments is poised to launch an industry-wide campaign that aims to hold shareholder votes on the issue at hundreds of funds. Investors Against Genocide has submitted genocide-free investing proposals at 58 funds at Fidelity Investments, Vanguard Group, T. Rowe Price, Barclays Global Investors and Franklin Templeton Investments. Despite efforts by Fidelity to receive Securities and Exchange Commission support to bypass votes on the proposals, more than 20 Fidelity funds face votes on March 19, April 16 and May 14. Meeting dates for the other funds have not been set.
Eric Cohen, chairman of Investors Against Genocide, said that while he does not expect to win the votes at first, he was hopeful that as public awareness grows the group will have more success. “The challenge is to get the word out,” said Cohen. “Little by little investors will start to notice.” He said that while he does not want funds to “adopt every social problem,” there is “overwhelming support from people that they don’t want their money connected to genocide.”