Mass. pension fund divests of companies with Iran ties

Reuters: The Massachusetts public employees pension fund has divested all of its stakes in companies with major ties to Iran’s energy industry, joining a campaign to pressure the country to stop developing nuclear weapons, state Treasurer Steve Grossman said on Tuesday.

(Reuters) – The Massachusetts public employees pension fund has divested all of its stakes in companies with major ties to Iran’s energy industry, joining a campaign to pressure the country to stop developing nuclear weapons, state Treasurer Steve Grossman said on Tuesday.

The decision by the nearly $50 billion Massachusetts fund, called Pension Reserves Investment Management, follows similar divestitures by other states including New York, Florida and Georgia, Grossman said by telephone.

“Massachusetts’s efforts are very much in concert with the sanctions being imposed by Washington and Europe,” he said in a statement.

The six companies that were divested, in accordance with a new state law are: L’Air Liquide, Daelim Industrial Co., Gazprom Hyundai Heavy Industries Ltd, Sasol and Siemens Ltd.. The shares had a total value of about $100 million, Grossman said.

“The cost to the portfolio has been minimal,” he said.

New York is considering additional ways of further isolating Iran. Companies and individuals that invest in Iran’s energy sector would be barred from doing business with New York state and its counties, cities and towns, under a bill proposed by the Democratic Assembly speaker.

(Reporting By Joan Gralla; Editing by Leslie Adler)