Article published on June 10, 2009
Fidelity investors are set to vote on anti-genocide shareholder proposals next month even though the funds in question hold none of the targeted securities. So Dow Jones Newswires reports.
Advocacy group Investors Against Genocide is putting forward ballot measures at several Freedom target-date portfolios and a big money market fund that have no stakes in PetroChina or other companies flagged for doing business with the Sudanese government, according to the Dow Jones report.
The advocacy group's strategy is to secure commitments against such investments at whatever Fidelity funds it can reach, says organizer Eric Cohen in a Dow Jones interview.
The measures would bar the funds from investing in companies with significant ties to any genocide or crimes against humanity, not just those involved in Sudan, in order to guard against any future humanitarian disasters.
Fidelity is urging shareholders to reject the measure, saying that it would limit the funds making investments that the U.S. government has found to be legally allowable. Plus, by retaining stakes in targeted companies, Fidelity also retains the ability to exert influence against practices it doesn't agree with, the company says.
Vanguard and American Funds shareholders are also scheduled to vote on proposals by Investors Against Genocide this summer.
By Joe Morris