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The California Public Employees' Retirement System is asking Walmart shareholders to join the Pension Fund in withholding votes from a slate of nominees to the Walmart Board of Directors.
"Walmart's recent track record, including allegations of corruption in Mexico, questions of supply chain code of conduct following tragedies in Bangladesh, and a guilty plea and fines for hazardous waste disposal charges, raises concern about their strategy for addressing these challenges," said Anne Simpson, CalPERS Senior Portfolio Manager and Director for Global Governance. "CalPERS firmly believes that long-term value creation requires the effective management of three forms of capital: financial, human and physical."
Taking the same position as last year, CalPERS is withholding its support for those Board members who sit on committees that directly oversee areas intended to address such incidents. CalPERS is also voting in favor of shareowner proposals to introduce an independent chair to the Board and to require disclosure if executive pay awards are recouped.
"We urge Walmart to listen to its shareowners and actively address concerns with the Board's oversight of operational and reputational risk," said Simpson.
CalPERS currently holds 5.375 million shares of Walmart stock, valued at approximately $402.2 million, with fixed income exposure at $130 million.
See the complete list of CalPERS votes at Walmart.
CalPERS is the largest public pension fund in the U.S. with approximately $260 billion in assets. The retirement system administers retirement benefits for more than 1.6 million current and retired California State, public school, and local public agency employees and their families on behalf of more than 3,000 public employers in the state, and health benefits for 1.3 million enrollees. For more information about CalPERS, visit www.calpers.ca.gov.
