CalPERS Drafting Policy on Corporate Boards

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System, the nation’s biggest pension fund, is drafting a new policy that would allow it to seek seats on boards of corporations in which it is a major stockholder. But a CalPERS spokeswoman said that the $127-billion pension fund has no plans to seek or accept any board seats, and that the proposed new policy doesn’t target any specific companies. The spokeswoman said the new policy would allow CalPERS to consider seeking or accepting a seat on a corporate board only under very limited circumstances. “The first is that the level of ownership would be that we are a controlling shareholder. The next condition is that it must be the opinion of the investment committee that the benefits of representation outweigh the risks,” she said. A first draft of the new policy was approved unanimously Dec. 15. It is scheduled for a final vote Feb. 17.