N.Y. State Retirement Fund in Pact With Hilton on Political Spending Disclosure

   By Colin Kellaher 
 

The New York State Common Retirement Fund has reached an agreement with Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. (HLT) under which the hotel operator will fully disclose its political spending, New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said Wednesday.

As a result of the agreement, the fund has withdrawn a shareholder proposal on the matter that it had filed with Hilton in November.

Hilton agreed to post its policies and procedures for making political contributions, as well as its direct and indirect monetary and non-monetary contributions and expenditures, on its website, and to provide updates on a semi-annual basis, according to a letter from the company to the comptroller's office.

The third-biggest U.S. public pension fund, with more than $200 billion in assets under management, so far this year has filed shareholder proposals seeking the same disclosure from eight other companies it invests in, including Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN), NextEra Energy Inc. (NEE), CMS Energy Corp. (CMS), Duke Energy Corp. (DUK), Simon Property Group Inc. (SPG), Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (RCL), Kroger Co. (KR) and Sysco Corp. (SYY).

Mr. DiNapoli noted that similar proposals by the fund last year garnered support from 45% of CMS shareholders, 43% of NextEra holders and 37% of Wynn's shareholders.

"Investors have the right to know if companies are using corporate funds to influence the political process and whether they're doing so to promote the companies' best interests, or if they're serving an unrelated interest," Mr. DiNapoli said.

Write to Colin Kellaher at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 13, 2019 11:40 ET (16:40 GMT)

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