Chicago teachers plan to divest private prison companies

Chicago Public School Teachers' Pension & Retirement Fund added private prison companies and businesses that operate immigration child detention centers to its list of prohibited investments, said Angela Miller-May, chief investment officer of the $9.8 billion pension fund, in an email.

At its Thursday board meeting, the pension fund board directed investment staff to instruct the fund's investment managers to "prudently liquidate public market holdings in (these) companies as soon as reasonably practical and in accordance with the managers' fiduciary duties," Ms. Miller-May wrote.

The pension fund estimates it has approximately $548,000 invested in these companies.

The pension fund already prohibits investments in retail assault weapons manufacturers and companies that do business in Sudan.

Separately, the pension fund removed core-plus fixed-income manager LM Capital Group from its watchlist.

The manager was added to the pension fund's watchlist last year because of organizational changes. It was removed because the departures of the key investment officials did not "adversely affect portfolio management," Ms. Miller-May said. LM Capital manages $201 million for the pension fund.