CalPERS placed Walt Disney Co., Emerson Electric Co., Maytag Corp. and Royal Dutch/Shell Petroleum on its 2004 focus list for poor financial and corporate governance performance. "Corporate governance reforms are needed for these companies to restore long-term profitability and investor confidence," Sean Harrigan, president of the California Public Employees' Retirement System, Sacramento, said in a statement.
CalPERS cited Disney for continuing corporate governance issues; Maytag for poor shareholder performance and an entrenched board; Royal Dutch/Shell for underperforming peers and restating oil reserves; and Emerson Electric for its board structure and the excessive retirement package of Charles Knight, former CEO and current chairman.
The focus list is selected from the $157 billion pension fund's investments in more than 1,800 U.S. corporations, and "is based on the companies' long-term stock performance, corporate governance practices and an economic value-added evaluation" that "measures a company's net operating profit after tax, minus its cost of capital," according to a CalPERS' statement.
