Major news in the campaign to get Fidelity out of Sudan

Selected pieces covering Fidelity's partial divestment. Click here for more press coverage.

Our voices are being heard and our actions are having results

  • Fidelity's May 15 filing with the SEC showed that as of March 31, Fidelity had sold 91% percent of its PetroChina shares and 99% of its Sinopec shares that trade on the New York Stock Exchange.
  • This action by Fidelity is a significant step in the right direction and evidence that your voice and those of thousands of others are being heard.
  • News of the sell-off was quickly heralded by members of the financial press as a victory for divestment activists and American investors who have been pressuring Fidelity to divest from these two Chinese oil companies that are helping to fund the genocide in Darfur.
  • Fidelity’s sale of 91% of its PetroChina ADRs helps fuel the growing recognition that PetroChina and other Sudan-related stocks are becoming “radioactive.” Increasingly, investors and fund managers should steer clear of targeted companies that are helping to fund the genocide as they become pariahs for responsible investors.

Keep the pressure on Fidelity to disclose and to divest

  • Fidelity's action, while significant, is only a first step.
  • Fidelity is still a massive shareholder in PetroChina by virtue of shares purchased on the Hong Kong stock exchange, called H shares, which represented more than half of its previous holdings in PetroChina. Details on Fidelity's continued holdings will emerge over the coming weeks. Early indications show that Fidelity still owns $55m of PetroChina on the NYSE. In addition, the South China Morning Post announced Fidelity still owned 652.1 million PetroChina shares, worth $834m. Further, Fidelity may still own $200m of Sinopec.
  • Since Fidelity has made no statement or commitment regarding divestment from PetroChina and Sinopec, investors entrusting their money to Fidelity mutual funds continue to risk inadvertently investing in these companies helping to fund the genocide in Darfur.
  • Fidelity appears to be listening to the concerns of American investors who do not want their money tied to investments that help support the genocide in Darfur.
  • While we applaud Fidelity for taking what seems to be a positive step toward divestment from such companies, we have an incomplete picture because Fidelity has provided no information about its holdings of H shares on the Hong Kong exchange which represented the majority of its holdings in PetroChina.
  • Fidelity (and other investment companies like Berkshire Hathaway) should divest completely from PetroChina and Sinopec, two Chinese oil companies that help to fund the genocide in Darfur.
  • Fidelity (and other investment companies like Berkshire Hathaway) should make a commitment to their customers that they will not invest in companies that support genocide.

How you can help

  • First and foremost, keep up the pressure on Fidelity.Tell Fidelity that 38% divestment is not enough. Ask that they divest completely and make a commitment to not invest in PetroChina and Sinopec until the genocide in Darfur has ended. Click here (for our homepage) for information on how to contact Fidelity. If you have sent Fidelity a message earlier in the campaign, now is the time to contact them again!
  • Also, we plan to organize a series of shareholder resolutions to force the issue of divestment to be considered as part of Fidelity's "annual" mutual fund shareholder meetings. We plan to submit resolutions to a broad range of funds and need supporters that have been Fidelity fund shareholders for over a year to help us file these motions. If you would like to play a role in these shareholder resolutions, please send us an email at info@fidelityoutofsudan.com.

Notes

  • When Fidelity files an updated 13G report revealing the extent of their overall global holdings of PetroChina, or should the company choose to voluntarily disclose information regarding its H shares, it will be possible to properly assess the significance of Fidelity’s May 15 SEC filing.
  • Early press reports overstated the reduction made by Fidelity by a large margin, by failing to account for Fidelity's large holdings outside of the New York Stock Exchange. If Fidelity neither reduced nor increased their holdings of H shares, their reduction in ADR holdings means that their total holdings would have been reduced by approximately 38%.