New Mexico reached a $16 million settlement on behalf of the state’s two pension systems and its investment council in its lawsuit over America Online’s 2001 acquisition of Time Warner Inc., confirmed Paul Nixon, deputy communications director for New Mexico Attorney General Gary K. King.
The state opted out of a class action suit against America Online in 2005 and brought an independent legal action the following year on behalf of the $15 billion New Mexico Investment Council, $13.1 billion New Mexico Public Employees Retirement Association and $9.3 billion New Mexico Educational Retirement Board. The suit claimed that AOL stock had traded at inflated values due to a misstatement of financial information at the time of the Time Warner acquisition.
The investment council will receive $6.8 million of the settlement; its original loss was $39.8 million, said Charles Wollmann, public information officer for the council. The public employees fund will get $4.6 million, 17% of the original loss, said Robert Gish, CIO of the fund. The educational board is receiving $4.5 million; it lost $26.2 million, said Mr. Wollmann.
