CalPERS Asks Companies To Report Safeguards Against Iran Investment Risk

The California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) today urged four companies in its public equity portfolio to report policies and steps to minimize the risk of investment in Iran.

Chief Investment Officer Russell Read said CalPERS needs information to assess the potential threat to investments by ENI, Repsol YPF, Royal Dutch Shell, and Total in Iran. 

“Letters from CalPERS and others in a coalition of city and state pension funds are asking companies to describe the policies and safeguards they have in place to mitigate the risks of doing business in Iran,” said Read.

Other coalition members are the Office of the Comptroller, New York City – leader of the effort; the Office of the New York State Comptroller; the Department of the State Treasurer, North Carolina; and the Illinois State Board of Investment. The number of companies contacted by coalition members varies depending on their portfolio holdings.

Their letters referred to significant involvement of the companies in Iran’s defense or nuclear sectors, and in the development of the nation’s oil and natural gas resources. They also expressed concern that energy production facilities might be attacked, as they were during the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, if growing U.S.-Iran tension led to war.

CalPERS and other pension funds say pending state divestment legislation increasingly is raising the prospect of having to divest investments in foreign companies that do business in Iran, and that the United Nations might impose tougher sanctions on Iran if it continues to defy UN resolutions related to the country’s nuclear program.

Combined, CalPERS has more than $2 billion invested globally in ENI, Repsol YPF, Royal Dutch Shell, and Total. A sample of the letter to companies can be viewed at www.comptroller.nyc.gov.

CalPERS is the nation's largest public pension fund with assets of more than $245 billion. It administers retirement and health benefits for approximately 1.5 million current and retired California public employees and their families. For more information on CalPERS, visit www.calpers.ca.gov.