Michigan Pension Loses Lawsuit Against Unilever Over Ben & Jerry's Israel Boycott

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a Michigan pension fund that claimed consumer goods giant Unilever misled investors by not immediately disclosing a resolution by the board of its Ben & Jerry’s unit to withdraw from Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories.

The ice cream maker said in a statement at the time that it was “inconsistent with our values for Ben & Jerry’s ice cream to be sold in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.” Following the announcement, multiple state pension funds said they would divest from Unilever due to the decision, which caused the company’s stock to decline.

The City of St. Clair Shores Police and Fire Retirement System filed a complaint in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in June 2022 alleging that Univelver and several of its executives “made false and misleading statements and engaged in a scheme to deceive the market.” The complaint alleged that Unilever intentionally concealed that Ben & Jerry’s would announce a resolution not to sell in the territories and that, by doing so, it artificially inflated the price of its shares.

However, U.S. District Judge Lorna Schofield ruled that Unilever was not required to disclose the boycott because, while Unilever retained operational control over the boycott decision, it did not make the decision—the Ben & Jerry’s board did, apparently against Unilever’s wishes.

According to court documents, “disagreement persisted” among Unilever, Ben & Jerry’s and the Ben & Jerry’s board over the resolution. Ben & Jerry’s announced it would cease distribution in Israeli-occupied territories but would continue sales in Israel. However, Unilever issued its own statement, reaffirming that Ben & Jerry’s would continue sales in Israel.

“The B&J Board apparently wanted to boycott Israel, and Unilever apparently did not,” Schofield wrote in her ruling. Unilever “had no reason to believe that the resolution would be adopted or implemented in a way that was contrary to Unilever’s wishes.”

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Schofield added that “the resolution was never adopted, and its proposal was avoided by selling the Israeli Ben & Jerry’s business.”

Principal

Maris will take on responsibilities across Principal’s equities platform, including managing 126 investment personnel across global investments, and serve as a named portfolio manager on international equity strategies. Maris previously served as head of equities for the Americas at Janus Henderson and lead portfolio manager on the firm’s international and global alpha equity strategies.

“We’re excited to bring George on-board as a leader and portfolio manager to help advance our offerings across domestic, international, and emerging market equities, all of which are sought after active management strategies with our clients,” said Kamal Bhatia, global head of investments at Principal Asset Management.

A Principal spokesperson did not return requests for additional details.

Principal added Maris as a named portfolio manager on the firm’s active fundamental public equities strategies, including international mutual funds, variable annuities and the Principal Life Insurance Co. separate account.

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Principal had named Owais Rana head of investment solutions at Principal Asset Management in February, as the firm integrates the global asset management and international pension businesses under the Principal Asset Management brand. Principal combined its global leadership team earlier this year to reflect the integration and named Bhatia the head of global investments, in addition to his ongoing roles as president and CEO of Principal Funds, in February.

Mercer

Aganga reports to Hooman Kaveh, Mercer’s global CIO, and joined the leadership team for Mercer’s U.S. outsourced CIO practice. Mercer hired Aganga to bolster its investment expertise, said Jen Kruse, Mercer’s U.S. OCIO leader, in a statement.

“We are fortunate to attract the brightest investment talent, and Olaolu’s move to Mercer reflects that,” Kruse said. “With Olaolu’s client-centric focus and proven track record of driving innovation and results, we are confident she will be a trusted advisor to our clients to help them navigate and capture the opportunities of the rapidly evolving global market.”

Aganga is responsible for leading Mercer’s U.S. outsourced CIO practice, implementing and delivering the firm’s OCIO investment processes, strategic asset allocation, fund manager selection and risk management across Mercer clients, according to the press release.

Aganga was most recently a managing director within BlackRock’s U.S. outsourced CIO business. Prior to BlackRock, Aganga advised institutional clients on a variety of investment solutions for Goldman Sachs.

Mercer is responsible for $393 billion global assets under management, as of June 30, a Mercer spokesperson said by email.

Tags: active equities, George Maris, Mercer, OCIO, Olaolu Aganga, Portfolio Management, Principal Asset Management

Michigan Pension Loses Lawsuit Against Unilever Over Ben & Jerry’s Israel Boycott

New CIOs Join Mercer, Principal

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