wfn.org | Church agency calls on company to explain role in Sudan

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Jan. 31, 2000     News media contact: Tim Tanton·(615)742-5470·Nashville,
Tenn.     10-21-31-71B{040}

NOTE:  This report is a sidebar to UMNS story #038.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (UMNS) - The pension agency of the United Methodist Church
is supporting a shareholder resolution that calls on a Canadian company to
account for its business dealings in the war-torn country of Sudan.

Talisman Energy, based in Calgary, Alberta, owns 25 percent of two oilfields
in the African country and is part of a consortium that includes other oil
companies and the Sudanese government. Shareholders connected with the
Taskforce on the Churches and Corporate Responsibility in Canada have asked
Talisman to respond to allegations that it is helping support the Sudanese
government.

The United Methodist Board of Pension and Health Benefits is joining 12
other groups in filing the resolution, which would require the company to
report on its compliance with the International Code of Ethics for Canadian
Business. The resolution notes that the company is risking sanctions by
investors and governments because of Sudan's record of human rights abuses
and "from the major role of petroleum" in the nation's civil war. 

The filing is "in keeping with the practice that the pension board has
established," said Vidette Bullock Mixon, a staff executive with the board
in Evanston, Ill. "When a company that we invest in has an issue of social
concern with the church, we try to engage that company in constructive
dialogue." 

The Board of Pension's governing members learned about the action involving
Talisman during their Jan. 27-28 meeting in Scottsdale.

The board owns 86,000 shares of Talisman, with a current market value of
about $2.5 million, Mixon said. 

Other institutional investors that are signing the resolution include the
New York State Common Retirement Fund and the New York City Employees
Retirement System, she said. Talisman shareholders will have their annual
meeting in May.

The Board of Pension, based in Evanston, Ill., manages the largest pension
fund of any denomination and is one of the biggest institutional investors
in the country. It administers benefits on behalf of the United Methodist
Church for about 25,000 retirees or survivors and 40,000 active clergy, lay
employees and their families. 

Sudan has been wracked by decades of civil war. Much of the current conflict
is between the Islamic fundamentalist government and the Christian and other
non-Muslim groups in the southern part of the country. The human rights
concerns have included widespread reports of non-Muslims being pressed into
slavery.

A Canadian government fact-finding team has traveled to Sudan recently to
investigate claims of abuses and inhumane treatment. 

During their meeting in Scottsdale, the Board of Pension's directors also
received an update on the agency's investment performance. The Diversified
Investment Fund, the board's largest pool of investment dollars, has had a
four-year compounded annual return of 18.9 percent, exceeding its benchmark
of 16.0 percent. The fund's return places it among the top 10 percent of all
large pension funds for the four-year period.

The fund has ranked in the second percentile of large pension funds for the
seven-year period, according to John English, chairman of the board's
investment committee.

Investment earnings continue to drive the board's assets and liabilities,
which were $13.1 billion as of Jan. 25, said Gale Whitson-Schmidt, chief
financial officer and treasurer. However, withdrawals are exceeding
contributions, she said.

In other business, the board:

·	Viewed a video that spotlighted the contributions of each governing
member to the agency during the past four years. Bishop Bruce Blake, board
chairman, responded afterward by thanking the staff and top executive
Barbara Boigegrain for their work during the past four years. 

·	Honored three agency employees with awards for service: Susan
Wilson, 21 years, Joyce Gilman, 25 years, and Gale Whitson-Schmidt, 27
years.
 
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United Methodist News Service
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