American Funds has sold $187 million, or 99% of its original $190 million, holdings via three mutual funds in PetroChina shares, a company Investors Against Genocide has railed against for funding genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan. The latest SEC filings show the fund company’s holdings as of Dec. 31 at a mere $2.7 million.
This comes on the heels of TIAA-CREF’s Jan. 4 announcement it had sold all of its holdings, worth $58 million in PetroChina, Sinopec and ONGC.
The divestment came as somewhat of a surprise since American Funds shareholders voted against a measure from the activist group in November.
“At the shareholder meeting on Nov. 24, Investors Against Genocide asked American Funds to draw the line at investing in genocide,” said Eric Cohen, chairman of the activist group. “We see now that American Funds was listening. We congratulate American Funds for divesting from PetroChina. Their action is a positive affirmation of their human rights policy.”
