Disclosure Pressure Put on Fidelity

Activists are stepping up the pressure on Fidelity Investments to drop opposition to a proposed rule that would require disclosure of votes cast on behalf of mutual fund shareholders.

An investor group said Monday that it had filed a shareholder resolution urging Fidelity Magellan, the nation’s second-largest stock fund, to disclose its so-called proxy votes on such issues as reelecting directors and setting executive pay at companies in which the fund owns shares.

Shareholder resolutions, which are nonbinding, have become increasingly common at U.S. companies in the wake of Enron Corp. and other corporate governance scandals, but they rarely have been targeted at mutual fund managements.

Boston financial planner Charles Sandmel and Responsible Wealth, a network of activist investors, are coordinating the resolution campaign.

Fidelity and other fund companies oppose disclosing proxy votes, saying that investors are not interested and that quiet diplomacy could be undermined if disagreements with management become public.

In September, the Securities and Exchange Commission proposed requiring fund companies to reveal how votes are cast, setting a two-month public comment period that ends Friday. Commissioners are expected to make a final ruling within weeks.

The SEC has gotten about 3,000 letters and e-mails, the vast majority backing the proposal.

The AFL-CIO has been urging fund companies to disclose their votes for the last two years. Since September, it and other activists have called on individuals to write or e-mail the SEC in support of the rule.

Meanwhile, the AFL-CIO said it would be on hand today to pass out leaflets at Fidelity’s office at 10100 Santa Monica Blvd. in Century City. The labor organization is asking Fidelity to change its stance and support proxy disclosure. Similar events at Fidelity’s Boston headquarters and at its offices in 19 other cities will be held Wednesday, the group said.