ISS Urges Social Investors to Support Sustainability Shareholder Proposal at Goldman Sachs (Ticker: GS)
15 Março 2007 - 2:27PM
PR Newswire (US)
Free Enterprise Action Fund (Ticker: FEAOX) Questions Goldman's
Role in TXU (Ticker: TXU) Buyout WASHINGTON, March 15
/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Action Fund Management, LLC (AFM),
investment advisor to the Free Enterprise Action Fund (Ticker:
FEAOX), announced today that proxy adviser Institutional
Shareholder Services recommended its socially responsible investor
clients to vote "FOR" the FEAOX's sustainability shareholder
proposal filed with Goldman Sachs (Ticker: GS). Shareholders will
vote on the proposal at Goldman's annual meeting on March 27. "We
are very pleased that ISS supports our efforts for increased
transparency on this issue at Goldman Sachs," said AFM's Steve
Milloy. "Goldman 'talks the talk' on environmental issues, but its
past actions don't appear to 'walk the walk,'" added Milloy. The
FEAOX (http://www.feaox.com/), a publicly-traded mutual fund, filed
the proposal because Goldman's past conduct on environmental
sustainability appears to be at odds with the policy described on
the firm's web site. The FEAOX's shareholder proposal asserts that:
"Goldman's past actions appear inconsistent with its own
Environmental Policy, which states: 'We can make a significant
positive contribution to ... sustainable forestry ... through
market-based solutions;" and "In pursuing [sustainability] we will
not stray from our central business objective of creating long-term
value for our shareholders ... ' "Goldman justified its much-touted
2004 donation of 680,000 acres of forest land in Tierra del Fuego,
Chile to an environmental group by stating, '... the best way to
maximize the value of the land was to purchase it for
conservation.' The facts indicate this is not so. "Prior to
Goldman's intervention, the Chilean land was the site of a
sustainable forestry plan regarded by experts as highly innovative,
pro- environment, and unprecedented in both scale and promise. The
land owner, U.S.-based Trillium Corporation, had rescued it from
clear-cutting and was committed to preserving 70% of the land for
conservation while generating revenues of up to $150 million/year
in perpetuity by developing the remainder. "The project was
nonetheless vigorously opposed by various "deep ecology" activist
groups, who oppose even minimal development of natural resources. A
9-year long activist-forced delay and subsequent collapse of
Trillium's lender made the lands vulnerable to takeover at a
distressed debt auction. Goldman aggressively outbid Trillium for
notes secured by the land. "Though Goldman initially represented to
Trillium that it would permit the project to continue, Goldman sued
Trillium and took the land in settlement. Upon advice from The
Nature Conservancy, Goldman then donated the land to the Wildlife
Conservation Society for the purpose of creating a nature preserve.
Then-Goldman CEO Hank Paulson was chairman of the Nature
Conservancy at that time. Paulson's son was a WCS official.
"Colgate University researchers subsequently concluded that
Goldman's donation to WCS was a less desirable outcome than
Trillium's project since it deprived the world of a pioneering and
much-needed example of large-scale sustainable development and
because it would have considerably helped the depressed local
economy. (Geoforum, July 2006). "The researchers said the
Goldman/WCS nature preserve outcome was at least partially based on
a faulty, if not false, rationale -- long touted by anti-
development opponents of Trillium's project -- that ecotourism was
a suitable sustainable development option for the land and
surrounding communities. The researchers noted that claims about
ecotourism as a sustainable development option are often used by
environmental groups that are also vying for control of targeted
lands. "Goldman shareholders expect that sustainable development
projects involving the company will benefit both shareholders and
the environment as promised by company policy. Goldman's Tierra del
Fuego land transactions failed to accomplish either objective." AFM
believes that Goldman's conduct in the Chilean land deal may raise
red flags about its involvement with future projects related to the
environment, such as the ongoing efforts of private equity firms
and environmental groups to effect the purchase of TXU Corp
(Ticker: TXU). "Shareholders and the environment lost out in the
Chilean land deal," said AFM's Tom Borelli. "As shareholders in
both Goldman and TXU, we want to make sure that history doesn't
repeat itself with the TXU buyout and other environment-related
projects," added Borelli. The FEAOX aims to increase shareholder
value by advancing free-market principles in the companies it owns.
FEAOX is available exclusively through BISYS Fund Services Limited
Partnership (applications may be obtained at
http://www.feaox.com/how.html), and through E*Trade Financial and
HSBC. An investor should consider the fund's investment objectives,
risks, and charges and expenses carefully before investing or
sending money. This and other important information about the Free
Enterprise Action Fund can be found in the fund's prospectus. To
obtain a prospectus, please call 1-800-766-3960 or visit
http://www.feaox.com/. Please read the prospectus carefully before
investing. Mutual fund investing involves risk, including loss of
principal. The Free Enterprise Action Fund is advised by Action
Fund Management, LLC., which receives a fee for its services, and
is distributed by BISYS Fund Services Limited Partnership, which is
not affiliated with Action Fund Management, LLC. DATASOURCE: Action
Fund Management, LLC CONTACT: Audrey Mullen, +1-703-548-1160, for
Action Fund Management, LLC
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