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Sudan Tribune

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Sudan belittles American fund TIAA-CREF’s divestment move

January 6, 2010 (WASHINGTON) – The Sudan Ministry of Foreign Affairs belittled the impact of the US investment fund TIAA-CREF’s sale of some $60 million in shares of four Asian firms doing business in Sudan.

Since March 2009, the investment firm TIAA-CREF has held meetings with four Asian companies to urge them to cease relations with the government of Sudan or “attempt to ease suffering and end genocide in Darfur.”

The fund announced Monday “there was insufficient progress to warrant continued dialogue with PetroChina, CNPC Hong Kong, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Sinopec and, consequently, TIAA-CREF has sold its holdings in those companies across all funds and accounts as of December 31, 2009.” The $60 million divestment amounts to only a small portion of the companies’ market capitalization.

In a press statement, the investment firm said one of the factors it considered was “the gravity of TIAA-CREF’s concerns in Sudan.”

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Muawiya Osman Khalid responded that the “company which withdrew its deposits was mostly suffering from financial problems rather than attempting to establish a political position,” according to a state news agency.

Mr. Khalid added that such a step will likely not have any effect on the Asian investments in Sudan. He pointed out that several other American companies still hold shares in international companies dealing with Sudan and have rejected the call on them to take their investments and deposits out of Sudan. These companies include Vanguard with $432 million holdings in PetroChina.

One firm, the Malaysian state oil company PETRONAS, has responded positively to TIAA-CREF’s concerns. The Americans own almost $5 million in two of the company’s subsidiaries. Roger W. Ferguson, Jr., TIAA-CREF’s chief executive, said “We have not divested from PETRONAS, which has acknowledged our concerns and engaged in dialogue about how it might address them.”

TIAA-CREF is a pension management firm. It manages US$402 billion in assets, according to figures from last September. The fund’s move was lauded by Eric Cohen, Chairperson of Investors Against Genocide.

Mr. Cohen said that the action by TIAA-CREF is an important milestone for the financial services industry. “TIAA-CREF has recognized the unique importance of taking aggressive action in the face of genocide and crimes against humanity. TIAA-CREF is the first large, mainstream financial services company to take a public stand supporting the overwhelming majority of Americans who do not want their savings and pension funds connected to genocide. TIAA-CREF?s commitment to act sets a higher standard for the entire financial services industry.”

(ST)

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