The nation’s largest public pension fund is ringing in the new year by putting pressure on at least four companies companies to adopt a majority vote standard that would require any director who receives a withhold vote greater than 50 percent of the votes cast to resign.
The $221 billion California Public Employees’ Retirement System announced plans to file shareowner proposals seeking a majority vote standard at Annaly Capital Management, Apple Inc., BB&T Corp., and V.F. Corp. In email reply, a spokeswoman for BB&T said, “Every year we objectively take a fresh look at our governance policies and we will do that this next year going into the shareholder season.” The other three companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment. CalPERS also plans to hold talks with another 34 companies and said it will file shareowner proposals when necessary.
