Responsible Investor

Fortis Investment Management and Deka Investments have joined the lawsuit against Ericsson. The writ claims alleges that Ericsson broke US federal security laws by publishing false and misleading statements reassuring the market that demand for its products and services remained strong, even though it was actually weakening in some markets, particularly in North America and Europe. The writ alleges that investors purchased shares at “artificially inflated prices”.
The first annual report by the joint ethical council of Sweden’s AP funds will be published next month, including all the names of the companies it is currently engaging with, reports ipe.com. Eva Halvarsson, chief executive of AP2, said there had been 70 incidents, out of 120, which were considered serious breaches, and of these the council had an “active dialogue” with 15 companies.
Milberg Weiss, the US law firm, has topped the RiskMetrics Group fifth annual “SCAS 50” report on the biggest settlements gained from class action lawsuits. Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins was top for winning the highest number of settlements, while Grant & Eisenhofer received the highest average settlement value. RiskMetrics said that settlement values appeared to be rising with the cut-off to make the top 20 in highest settlements last year rising to $148.5m in 2007 against $94.1 million in 2006.
Almost three quarters of UK pension schemes (71%) that responded to a poll of 192 funds do not consider environmental issues in the day-to-day running of the scheme with 7% saying they were not interested in green issues. The survey, by e-share, a pensions administration group, said 94% of respondents believed they could do more to become environmentally friendly.

The mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, has reportedly lobbied the £3.6bn (€4.85bn) London Pension Fund Authority, which manages the pension schemes of several London local authorities, to reduce carbon emissions in its choice of investments. Mike Taylor, chief executive at LPFA, told the National Association of Pension Funds investment conference: “My trustees were approached by the mayor of London who asked us to prioritise the reduction of carbon. I have more than 200 employers involved in my scheme and I know that many of them have long-term investment responsibility at the top of their list of priorities. Taylor said trustees should take the impact of climate change into account when making investment choices and warned that they could face legal action in the future if they don’t.
British banks face being drawn into the £3bn Liechtenstein tax evasion scandal after the UK Inland Revenue reportedly asked the British Bankers’ Association for information about institutions based in that country and other global tax havens, according to UK newspaper The Observer. The paper, citing senior City of London sources, said UK-connected financial institutions could face prosecution if it is proved they recommended tax evasion techniques to clients.
US and European shareholders including Dutch pension funds ABP and PGGM will receive an additional payment of $35m from Royal Dutch Shell after the group said it had settled a US class action lawsuit relating to its oil reserves downgrade in 2004. Shell has agreed to pay more than $80m to settle a class action filed by the Pennsylvania State Employees’ Retirement System and the Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System. The oil group agreed an initial $353m settlement with European shareholders last year.

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