Missouri Withdraws Half a Billion Worth of Pension Funds from BlackRocks Control
October 19, 2022 | Missouri
Missouri State Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick announced on Tuesday that the state’s pension fund is selling all of its assets that are managed by BlackRock, a move that will divest up to $500 million from the asset manager.
The Missouri State Employees’ Retirement System (MOSERS) is withdrawing its assets from BlackRock’s control because the state believes that the company is using its control of pension funds to push a “left-wing” agenda as opposed to making money for its clients, according to a press release. Missouri joins several other Republican-run states that have also pulled funds from BlackRock for similar reasons.
“We should not allow asset managers such as BlackRock, who have demonstrated that they will prioritize advancing a woke political agenda above the financial interests of their customers, to continue speaking on behalf of the state of Missouri,” Fitzpatrick said in the press release. “It is past time that all investors recognize the massive fiduciary breach that is taking place before our eyes, and do something about it.”
Republican state treasurers in Louisiana, South Carolina, Arkansas and Utah will divest a total of $1 billion from BlackRock by the end of 2022, according to the Financial Times. The removal of state money from BlackRock’s management comes after 19 Republican attorneys general accused BlackRock of boycotting the fossil fuel industry at the expense of its clients, according to a letter sent to BlackRock CEO Larry Fink…. (Excerpt from The Daily Caller and The Virginia Star)
