The SRI research consultancy KLD has set up a Sudan Compliance Service
to help money managers who are being asked to avoid investing in
companies with Sudan links.
US-based KLD has found more than 120 publicly traded enterprises doing
business in the Sudan, including the French telecommunications company
Alcatel, the Franco-Belgian oil group Total, and the German technology
specialist Siemens.
KLD said the service is a response to the trend among US states to pass
‘divestment legislation’ that bars their pension funds from investing
in companies trading in Sudan.
The first state to pass such legislation was Illinois, which required
public pension funds, whether they invested directly or through outside
money managers, to have divested from companies operating in Sudan by
the end of January 2006. Louisiana, New Jersey and Oregon have followed
suit in the past year, and divestment bills are pending in Indiana,
Massachusetts, New York, Ohio and Vermont. In 2005 Harvard University
sold its $4.4million (£2.5m) stake in PetroChina because it worked in
Sudan.
