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 Re: شركة أمريكية تبيع أصولها في السودان بسبب الإنتهاكات فى دارفور (Re: Salwa Seyam)
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March 26, 2009
Questions and Answers about TIAA-CREF's Policy on Investment in Companies with Ties to Sudan
In a statement released today, TIAA-CREF announced its intention to sell shares of portfolio companies that have business relations with the government of Sudan by the end of 2009 unless those companies cease those relations or attempt to end genocide and ease suffering in Darfur, and calls upon other financial services companies to do the same. The following Questions and Answers discuss our approach.
Why has TIAA-CREF reached this decision?
We believe that members of society have a responsibility to confront the genocide taking place in Darfur and demand action from companies operating in Sudan to help alleviate the suffering of its people.
Over the past three years, we have continued a campaign along to pressure companies that have business relations with the Sudanese government to end those ties or take steps to improve conditions in Darfur.
Such engagement is not open ended, however. With that in mind, we will intensify pressure on portfolio companies and divest from those that fail to take meaningful steps to respect human rights within a reasonable time.
Which companies is TIAA-CREF seeking to influence?
They include CNPC Hong Kong, Oil and Natural Gas Company (ONGC), PetroChina, Sinopec, and PETRONAS, which are majority state-owned Indian, Chinese and Malaysian oil companies. Taken together these holdings comprise less than one percent of the combined $363 billion in assets TIAA-CREF manages (as of 12/31/08).1
What will TIAA-CREF do to try and influence these companies?
In coming months we will seek meetings between TIAA-CREF management and top executives of target companies to encourage them to take positive and meaningful humanitarian steps and attempt to end genocide. We also will endorse the U.N.-sponsored Principles for Responsible Investment, join with other signatories to urge companies operating in Sudan to confront human rights abuses, and call upon other financial services companies to follow our lead and increase pressure on target companies.
How will you assess progress?
We will measure companies' progress by whether they take meaningful steps to ease suffering and attempt to end genocide. If target companies refuse to meet with us, we will divest promptly and announce that decision publicly. If they agree to engage in a productive dialogue, we will continue to hold their shares as long as progress continues and as long as portfolio management concerns warrant. If a company takes meaningful steps, we will remove it from our divestment list and continue the dialogue to ensure changes occur.
What factors led TIAA-CREF to this decision?
We carefully considered the gravity of our concerns in Sudan, the likelihood of successful dialogue with companies and our conclusion that divestment would have a negligible impact on the financial performance of assets under management.
Is TIAA-CREF's policy to still use your standing as shareholders to effect improvements in companies' practices?
Yes. We believe that attempts to use our standing as shareholders remains the most effective way to influence corporate policies and practices. However, in cases where companies may substantially contribute to genocide or crimes against humanity, we may intensify engagement or limit its duration if we believe that such action is necessary to cause companies to improve their stance.
What progress can you point to regarding the companies you have engaged?
To date 10 of 22 companies on our target list have taken action. For example, ABB Ltd., Baker Hughes, Inc., Siemens AG and other companies that we have engaged on Sudan no longer have operations in the country. Still other companies, including Schlumberger Ltd. and Total S.A., have committed to subsidize initiatives focused on education, health and water supplies to contribute to the rebuilding effort in Sudan
What is your advice to TIAA-CREF participants who do not want their retirement funds invested in those companies right now?
TIAA-CREF participants who wish to avoid investing in companies that have ties to Sudan can do so today. Most TIAA-CREF mutual funds and variable annuity accounts, including the CREF Social Choice Variable Annuity Account and TIAA-CREF Social Choice Equity mutual fund, have no exposure to Sudan.
The CREF Social Choice Account is the largest comprehensively screened investment vehicle for individual investors in the United States and includes both domestic and international companies that have passed environmental, social and governance screens that factor in a company's ties to Sudan. TIAA-CREF's Social Choice Equity Mutual Fund, which invests in domestic companies, offers participants similar opportunities to align their investment portfolios with social criteria. These alternatives give participants the ability to choose investments based solely on social criteria, a decision that we believe is best left to each individual.
Social screens for investments in the Social Choice Account and Social Choice Equity mutual fund include the Global Sustainability Index compiled by KLD Research & Analytics, Inc. (KLD), an independent social investing research firm. The Account and the mutual fund primarily invests in companies that are screened by KLD to favor companies that meet or exceed environmental, social and governance criteria.
What about participants who would like to continue to invest in the target companies?
At this point we have not sold any shares, and remain hopeful that the target companies will respond to outreach from TIAA-CREF and other shareholders regarding those companies' relations with the Sudanese government. Should we decide to divest, however, it will signify that holding shares in those companies constitutes, in our view, an imprudent investment risk over the long run. As noted above, TIAA-CREF's holdings in these companies constitute less than one percent of combined assets under management.
How else is TIAA-CREF addressing participants' interest in socially responsible investing?
TIAA-CREF offers focused, high social-impact investment programs across a wide range of asset classes.
TIAA-CREF operates a $100 million, four-year Global Microfinance Investment Program. Microfinance investments enable participant to seek competitive returns through investments that promote human rights and economic development and improve the lives of people in Africa, Asia and other developing regions.
We maintain a Community Bank Deposit Program, which makes sizable investments in FDIC-insured certificates of deposit at local community development banks that help underserved communities.
Our Corporate Social Real Estate Program has invested nearly $600 million in affordable housing, workforce housing, urban and transit-oriented commercial development, and sustainable development.
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