The figures from Richard Sanders below on Canada Pension Plan Investments in Lockheed Martin are pretty staggering. I believe he is a credible researcher.
Many people lobby the CPPIB (CPP Investment Board), I do not know that it is reported anywhere. I used to lobby them on what they are investing in and the conflicts-of-interest on their board. Haven’t done it for some time – it became more difficult to find info on their website and the efforts didn’t appear to bear fruit.
CPPIB hired a couple of people 7 or 8 years ago, positions responsible for their “Socially responsible” investing. I recently received an email: “(Name) lost the job at cppib, soon after we started asking questions, a lot of questions. (Name) tried to be helpful.”
APPENDED: postings from our network regarding the CPPIB.
From #11, 2012-04-23 From Tootsie Rolls to tobacco: What’s in your CPP fund? CBC News,
a senior executive from the CPPIB (Don Raymond, formerly from Goldman Sachs – see bottom of this posting) said “the fund has a strict “investment only” mandate and, by law, cannot take political or moral considerations into account when choosing investments”.
The statement contradicts CPPIB policy on “socially responsible investing”?
Last week I called the CPPIB (“socially responsible” section) to question re the increase in investment in Lockheed Martin. I was told 2 or 3 times about the statement on the CPPIB website re socially-responsible investing; I haven’t looked at it yet (in the past I found it to be advertising or rhetoric or propaganda – not the real goods).
Between two of the postings, you will see (Don Raymond, the Senior VP responsible):
CPPIB went on “a buying spree”, (“$2-billion to $5-billion of debt”, March 2009), they then lost $24 billion in that same year, and paid the executives $7 million in bonuses.
” . . . In 2009, during the global financial crisis, the fund, like many, took a big hit, plummeting 18.6 per cent and losing $24 billion. This sparked a backlash from some critics who complained the top executives of the board received $7 million in bonuses despite the losses. …” . . . Nothing mentioned about the “buying spree” – –
“Don Raymond, senior vice-president of public market investments at CPPIB, said the fund would issue $2-billion to $5-billion of debt over the next year to provide “additional flexibility” . . .”
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From: Richard
Sent: June-08-12
Subject: Re: Need info – war industry funding of Canadian universities
Hi Sandra
In the past few days, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) released its data regarding CPP investments for 2012. (This new data which reflects CPP holdings as of March 31, 2012, updates the previously available information for March 31, 2011.)
The CPPIB also recently released the times and places of its nine public meetings. These June 11 mtgs are an hour-and-a-half-long opportunity (once every two years) for Canadians to make comments and ask questions about the CPP and its investment practices. The Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade is rallying folks to attend these meetings in person or to pose questions online via a CPPIB webcast on Monday, June 11. http://coat.ncf.ca/research/cppib-meetings.htm
The new data shows that the CPPIB almost doubled its investments in the world’s Top 100 war industries during Fiscal Year (FY) 2011.
Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin (LM) ranks as number one on the list of international war industries.
The CPP has long invested in LM. The CPP currently includes $78 million worth of shares in LM, up from $5 million in 2011. That is a more than 14-fold increase.
In 2011, the CPP held 62 shares in LM. Now, as of March 31, 2012, the CPP holds 872 shares in LM. (INSERT: these numbers are likely in units of a thousand)
The CPP isn’t the only large Cdn pension fund investing in LM. The CP and three other large funds (among the top six Cdn pension funds) own a total of $ 101,598,000 worth of shares in LM. (The three other funds are OMERS, OTPP and PSPI.)
Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor for the F-35 warplane.
The CPP and the other five top Cdn pension funds are investing in many militar contractors that are building the F-35s.
See this COAT research to show the 2012 data: http://coat.ncf.ca/research/Pensions-F35.htm
The total value of the CPP’s stake in the top 100 international war industries (as ranked by “Defense News,” using 2011 company data on military revenues) went from $387 million in 2011 to $674 million in 2012.
The CPP Investment Board seems to have deliberately chosen to increase its investments in the world’s largest war industries.
During Fiscal Year 2011, it added 15 new companies to its portfolio from the Top 100 list.
So, instead of investing in only three of the world’s Top 10 war industries, as it did in 2011, the CPP increased that to 9 of the Top 10.
And, instead of owning shares in only 7 of the world’s Top 20 war industries, as it did in 2011, the CPP now holds shares in 18 of the Top 20.
Cheers
Richard Sanders
coordinator, COAT
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APPENDED: POSTINGS RE CPPIB & ETHICAL INVESTING
(Note: click on the link and then scroll down past the top headings to read the article.)
1. http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=5709 2006-01-01 Norway’s Central Bank hires Doctor of Philosophy (Henrik Syse) re Implementation of moral behavior in investment decisions (money from offshore oil) (Der Spiegel).
2. http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=5707 2006-06-06 Norway dumps Walmart stock because of its unethical behaviour.
3. http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=5712 2006-07-29 Wal-Mart pulls out of Germany at cost of $1bn U.S. (The Times of London)
4. http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=5715 2006-08-02 CPP investments – our money, our responsibility. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.
5. http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=5718 2006-08-02 Letter to Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Divestment needs to be part of the CPPIB socially responsible investing policy
6. http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=5785 2006-11-28 Water is the new oil, says CIBC. I called CEO Brain Shaw. You, too?. CPPIB launched bid for British water utility. P3’s.
7. http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=5705 2007-02-22 Norway withdraws support from World Bank Fund, Water privatization
8. http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=5777 2007-02-28 Weyerhaeuser, Letter to major pension plans. Grassy Narrows. CPPIB.
9. http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=4897 2007-06-06 How to find out how much of your money (CPP) is invested where. VIDEO: Help “Get the Shell Out” of the Sacred headwaters.
10. http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=5771 2007-12-13 Violent Evictions at El Estor, Guatemala. Eviction Notice sent by a Canadian company, Skye Resources. Acadians. CPPIB.
11. http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=5767 2008-03-22 BASF Clearfield Wheat. CPPIB Board Director in conflict-of-interest.
12. http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=2367 2008-05-26 Lockheed Martin Census: Are Canadians Contravening the Global Ban on Anti-Personnel Landmines? CPPIB
13. http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=188 2008-12-08 Canada signs international treaty to ban cluster bombs. The treaty conditions and moral authority require us to dis-invest from Lockheed Martin, manufacturer of cluster munitions. CPPIB
14. http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=5848 2009-03-26 CPPIB going on a buying spree, Financial Post, Karen Mazurkewich
NOTE: They went on a buying spree, (“$2-billion to $5-billion of debt”), they lost $24 billion in that same year, and paid the executives $7 million in bonuses.
The article, “CPPIB going on a buying spree”, was written in March 2009.
By the end of 2009, excerpt from 2012-04-23 From Tootsie Rolls to tobacco: What’s in your CPP fund? CBC News ” . . . In 2009, during the global financial crisis, the fund, like many, took a big hit, plummeting 18.6 per cent and losing $24 billion. This sparked a backlash from some critics who complained the top executives of the board received $7 million in bonuses despite the losses. …”
15. http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=258 2010-02-25 Understanding why we flounder, help from John Ralston Saul “On Equilibrium”
16. http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=5740 2012-04-23 From Tootsie Rolls to tobacco: What’s in your CPP fund? (CPPIB) CBC News
17. http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=5746 2012-06-08 CPP Investment Board, Public Meetings (June 11 in Regina)
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FROM THE CPPIB WEBSITE: DONALD M. RAYMOND, SENIOR VICE-PRESIDENT
Donald M. Raymond
Senior Vice-President and Chief Investment Strategist
Don is responsible for overall fund level investment strategy. He chairs the Investment Planning Committee, which approves all new investment programs and oversees all portfolio risks, including passive, active, credit and liquidity risk. Prior to this role, Don built and led the Public Market Investments department transition from external passive equity investing to the development of a wide variety of sophisticated internal active capabilities across all asset classes.
Prior to joining the CPPIB in 2001, Don worked for Goldman Sachs for seven years. He joined their Toronto office as a fixed-income strategist before moving to the Quantitative Strategies group in New York with responsibility for global equity and fixed-income portfolios. He began his investment career as a research analyst in the fixed-income derivatives department of Burns Fry, a predecessor of BMO Capital Markets.
Prior to developing an interest in finance, Don worked for Schlumberger in China and trained as a pilot in the Canadian military. He holds a PhD in engineering from Queen’s University and a CFA charter. Don is currently Chair of the International Centre for Pension Management at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management and a Trustee of Queen’s University.