AK Teacher Retirement System Votes to Avoid Sudan-linked Holdings

June 20, 2007 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Trustees for the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System have voted against investing in companies that do business in Sudan due to the accused genocide in its Darfur region.

The AP reports that the trustees approved the resolution on Tuesday. Last month, system executive director Paul Doane said the system’s investments in two companies doing business in Sudan were valued $21.6 million, according to the AP.

The system had rejected the state legislature’s urging to divest because only one of the two companies was identified as still having an interest in Sudan and that holding is worth less than $1 million (See Arkansas Teachers’ Fund Turns Down Divestment Proposal). Doane said that company is in the process of pulling its business from Sudan.

While many state retirement systems are moving to divest holdings in Sudan-linked companies, the federal employees Thrift Savings Plan recently rejected Congressional efforts to get it to divest (See TSP Board Approves Auto Enrollment, Default Option ).

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