N.Y. State Retirement Fund in Pact With Hilton on Political Spending Disclosure
February 13 2019 - 11:55AM
Dow Jones News
By Colin Kellaher
The New York State Common Retirement Fund has reached an
agreement with Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. (HLT) under which the
hotel operator will fully disclose its political spending, New York
State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said Wednesday.
As a result of the agreement, the fund has withdrawn a
shareholder proposal on the matter that it had filed with Hilton in
November.
Hilton agreed to post its policies and procedures for making
political contributions, as well as its direct and indirect
monetary and non-monetary contributions and expenditures, on its
website, and to provide updates on a semi-annual basis, according
to a letter from the company to the comptroller's office.
The third-biggest U.S. public pension fund, with more than $200
billion in assets under management, so far this year has filed
shareholder proposals seeking the same disclosure from eight other
companies it invests in, including Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN),
NextEra Energy Inc. (NEE), CMS Energy Corp. (CMS), Duke Energy
Corp. (DUK), Simon Property Group Inc. (SPG), Royal Caribbean
Cruises Ltd. (RCL), Kroger Co. (KR) and Sysco Corp. (SYY).
Mr. DiNapoli noted that similar proposals by the fund last year
garnered support from 45% of CMS shareholders, 43% of NextEra
holders and 37% of Wynn's shareholders.
"Investors have the right to know if companies are using
corporate funds to influence the political process and whether
they're doing so to promote the companies' best interests, or if
they're serving an unrelated interest," Mr. DiNapoli said.
Write to Colin Kellaher at colin.kellaher@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 13, 2019 11:40 ET (16:40 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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