RAID wrote to several US public pension funds and the Transport for London pension fund over a year ago asking them about their investments with hedge fund Och-Ziff. A UK mining company had done a deal with the Zimbabwean regime to buy platinum assets using money from Och-Ziff, thereby financing President Mugabe’s violent campaign to subvert 2008 elections.
The pension funds never responded to RAID about the concerns we raised.
In an open letter sent today, RAID has updated the same pension funds on recent developments concerning Och-Ziff: the latter’s disclosure of an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice into some of the firm’s African investments; RAID’s latest report on Och-Ziff; recent press coverage of Och-Ziff’s questionable investments in Africa; and the decision of the Californian state pension fund (CalPERS), the largest of its kind in the US, to exit hedge funds, including Och-Ziff.
RAID has asked the pension funds concerned to clarify:
- their dealings with Och-Ziff;
- whether they raised concerns with Och-Ziff about its African investments;
- what action they have taken or intend to take in respect of their investments with Och-Ziff and;
- on what basis the pension fund would consider divesting from an investment fund, given their stated investment and governance principles.
The letters are available here:
Letter from RAID to US pension funds about Och-Ziff investments
Letter from RAID to TfL pension fund about Och-Ziff investments