New York divesting retirement fund of Russian interests

(The Center Square) – The New York State Common Retirement Fund will no longer hold any interest in Russian companies.

State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli announced late Friday afternoon that the public worker pension fund would sell off its stakes in any Russian-owned businesses. Earlier this month, DiNapoli announced a freeze on new investments in Russian businesses and requested a review of the fund’s portfolio.

In a statement, DiNapoli – the sole trustee for the pension fund – said the “immoral invasion” has devastated Ukraine.

“Russian President Putin’s violent and unpredictable foreign policy has rightfully brought on substantial sanctions, and his war has made Russia an unacceptable investment risk,” DiNapoli said. “As Russia’s already weak economy plunges toward economic crisis, we are protecting our state pension fund by divesting our minimal investments there and restricting any further investments in Russian companies.”

In the March 1 announcement, DiNapoli said the Fund estimated the value of its Russian investments at $110.8 million. That included a combination of direct ownership of shares in businesses and some “co-mingled funds” involving Russian companies.

Through Dec. 31, the estimated value of the fund was nearly $280 billion.

The Common Retirement Fund stands as one of the largest public-sector pension plans in the country. It covers more than 1 million state and local government workers and retirees, as well as the families of those current and former workers.

Besides issuing an order to divest public funds from Russian-controlled enterprises, DiNapoli added that he’s also contacted several American companies, such as McDonald’s Corp. and PepsiCo, over the past month and encouraged them to either suspend or terminate their operations in Russia.

Members of DiNapoli’s office responsible for overseeing the fund have also held discussions with external investment managers. In those talks, the state has called on them to reexamine their investments in Russian companies and seek ways to mitigate the risk for current and future pension recipients.

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