New York State Common Retirement Fund, Albany, will divest its holdings in Unilever PLC stock because a company subsidiary, Ben & Jerry's Homemade Holdings Inc., violated the $268.3 billion pension fund's rules regarding an economic boycott of Israel.
The pension fund's review of the activities of Unilever and Ben & Jerry's found that they were involved in boycott, divestment and sanctions activities against companies that do business in Israel, which is in violation of the fund's policy, Thomas DiNapoli, the state comptroller, and sole trustee of the pension fund, said in a statement obtained via email Friday.
The New York pension fund has $111 million in Unilever stock. A timetable for divesting hasn't been set, Matthew Sweeney, a spokesman for Mr. DiNapoli, wrote in an email.
Earlier this year, Ben & Jerry's posted on its website that it "will end sales of our ice cream in Occupied Palestinian Territory. We believe it is inconsistent with our values for Ben & Jerry's ice cream to be sold in the Occupied Palestinian Territory."
Some public pension plans are considering or are divesting their holdings in Unilever because of Ben & Jerry's decision to stop ice cream sales in the Israel-controlled West Bank.
The New Jersey Division of Investment, for example, announced in September that it was initiating action to divest approximately $182 million in Unilever stocks, bonds and short-term paper, citing the comments on Ben & Jerry's website.
The division, which manages investments for the $94.4 billion New Jersey Pension Fund, Trenton, said it was enforcing a 2016 state law that requires the pension fund to act against companies that conduct economic boycotts in Israel or in Israel-controlled territory. Unilever has 90 days to appeal.
The New York pension fund, in a July 23 letter to Unilever CEO Alan Jope, reminded him of the pension fund's 2016 policy "to address the investment risks posed by companies that engage in so-called 'boycott, divest, sanction' activities, which include actions that are intended to penalize, inflict economic harm on or limit commercial relations with the State of Israel."
The letter from Liz Gordon, the pension fund's executive director of corporate governance, expressed concern "about reports suggesting that Ben & Jerry's ... is involved in BDS activities."
In a response, Mr. Jope wrote on Aug. 4 that "Unilever rejects completely and repudiates unequivocally any form of discrimination or intolerance. Anti-Semitism has no place in any society. We have never expressed any support for the 'boycott, divestment, sanctions' movement and have no intention of changing that position." Mr. Jope added that this is a "complex matter" because when Unilever acquired Ben & Jerry's in 2000, it agreed to allow the ice cream maker to have an independent board "to take decisions in accordance with its social mission."
Mr. Jope added that Ben & Jerry's "will remain in Israel through a different business arrangement. We have welcomed this decision to stay in Israel emphatically."
A Unilever spokesman, in an email, said Mr. Jope's letter explains the company's position.
