CalPERS to Withhold Applied Materials Votes

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System said Thursday that it would withhold votes for four Applied Materials Inc. directors. Applied, which has 3.5 billion shares, scheduled its annual shareholders’ meeting for March 24.

CalPERS is concerned that companies that give additional work to their external auditors create the possibility of a conflict of interests, spokesman Brad Pacheco said.

In fiscal 2003 Applied paid PricewaterhouseCoopers $2.34 million in fees, $21,000 of which was for “agreed upon procedures and consulting,” according to the company’s proxy filing.