CalPERS Wants British to Form Investor Groups

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System, the largest public pension fund in the United States, called on British fund managers to set up a shareholder activist group to boost performance of British corporations.

The $97-billion pension fund, known as CalPERS, called for a shareholder group similar to the Council of Institutional Investors in the United States as part of a new campaign to spread its shareholder activism to international companies.

Charles Valdes, chairman of CalPERS’ investment committee, told a group of pension fund managers that CalPERS plans to enter the international investment arena “in a big way,” although it will do it slowly and with respect for the corporate governance customs of each country.

CalPERS, which has shaken up management at such companies as General Motors Corp. and American Express Co., said last August that it plans to raise its investments in international stocks to 20% of assets in the next few years, from 14% at the end of 1995. At current asset levels, that would mean increasing its investment in international equities from $13.6 billion to $19.4 billion.