Strathclyde Pension Fund puts 24 global companies under observation

The £11.2bn (€13.9bn) Strathclyde Pension Fund has put 24 global blue-chip companies under observation for compliance with international conventions and guidance on the environment, human rights and corruption.
The list has been drawn up by the Glasgow-based fund’s new responsible investment advisor, GES Investment Services, and includes some of the world’s foremost companies, such as BP, Google, HSBC, Microsoft, Nestle and Tesco (full list below).
The fund, which became a signatory to the UN-backed Principles for Responsible Investment in 2008, disclosed the list in its latest responsible investment report.
GES will coordinate the engagements with the fund’s asset managers Veritas, Oldfield Partners, Schroders, Baillie Gifford and Lazard.
GES has already met with Mutiu Sunmonu, Chairman of Shell Nigeria, to discuss pollution in Ogoniland in the Niger Delta. And it has made a site visit to Goldcorp’s controversial Marlin mine in Guatemala.

The fund says its managers’ engagement and voting activity show a “high level of compliance” with its responsible investment policies. “This activity will be enhanced as a result of the fund’s introduction of the dedicated engagement specialist, GES,” it says.

It comes as the fund has tendered a four-year mandate of around £550m in passive fundamental equities.

It is also seeking a custodian for safekeeping of assets, transaction processing, tax collection, corporate actions, proxy voting, investment accounting, cash management and global securities lending.

Both procurements are being handled by consultants Hymans Robertson and the deadline for tendering is November 26.At a meeting last month, the fund agreed to allocate a further £100m to private equity fund-of-funds manager Pantheon and an extra £200m to Swizz-based private equity firm Partners Group.

Strathclyde’s engagement list:

Banco Santander (relevant asset manager: Lazard)
Barrick Gold Corp – Lazard/Oldfield
BHP Billiton – Baillie Gifford/Lazard
BP Plc – various
BAT – Baillie Gifford/Lazard
Chevron – Lazard
Cisco Systems – Lazard
Deutsche Telecom – Schroders
Goldcorp – Lazard
Google – Lazard/Veritas
Hewlett-Packard – Oldfield
HSBC Holdings – Schroders
Itau Unibanco – Lazard
Microsoft Corp – various
Monsanto – Lazard
Nestle – Baillie Gifford
Newmont Mining – Lazard
Occidental – Lazard
Petrochina – Veritas
Ricoh Co – Schroders
Rio Tinto – various
Royal Dutch Shell – Lazard/Schroders
Tesco Plc – Oldfield
Total SA – Schroders