3rd Dec 07 - Alstom, the French energy and rail infrastructure group, is the latest company to be hit by an institutional investor boycott over business links in Sudan. KLP, Norwegian life and pensions company, is excluding Alstom from its index portfolio for alleged violations of human rights at a Sudanese hydro-power dam project.

In a statement, KLP said: “A special envoy from the UN Human Rights Council urged Alstom, among others – Alstom being the project’s main supplier of electrical equipment – to cease operations due to reports of human rights being violated in connection with conditions being reprehensible and around 50,000 people being forcibly moved.”
The KLP exclusion suggests European institutions could follow a wave of Sudan boycotts by US public pension funds. Investors including the Church of Sweden and Swedish insurance company Folksam may join the Alstom boycott as both recently began cooperating with KLP via GES Investment Services, the Swedish governance group, to initiate “precautionary engagement” with companies over alleged human rights abuses.
Last month, Massachusetts became the 21st US state to prompt public pension funds to divest from firms working with the Sudanese government. US funds have so far pulled assets worth hundreds of millions of dollars, although most have done so as a result of state-led political decisions.

See the article in full on the Responsible Investor Website at http://www.responsible-investor.com/home/article/alstom_and_wesfarmers_hit_by_norwegian_investment_exclusion/