Swedish pension fund pulls out of Wal-Mart

[Stockholm]

The 195 billion kronor Swedish second national pension buffer fund, AP2, has withdrawn its bond and equities investments in Wal-Mart Mexico, claiming the firm breaches human rights.

The Swedish fund's move to offload bond and equity securities worth 200 million kronor follows the Norwegian Government Pension Fund's decision to end its investments in the retailer in June, also citing employee rights concerns at the world's largest retailer.

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Eva Halvarsson, AP2's CEO, said: "Wal-Mart has so many documented incidents concerning the infringement of norms, both within its own operations and throughout its supply chain that, in our opinion, the existence of an inherently unethical system is placed beyond all reasonable doubt."

Rosen said AP2 is currently in talks with other companies on corporate governance and ethical issues, but stressed the fund saw divestments as a last resort when negotiations come to no fruition.

Wal-Mart was not available for comment.

http://www.thelocal.se/article.php?ID=4830&date=20060908

On edit: The Swedish AP funds are national pension buffert funds and total around 605 billion kronor (2004). The reason there are multiple funds are that each AP funds have different mandates.
The "first" government pension fund: 148 billion kronor
The "second": 149 billion kronor
The "third": 152 billion kronor
The "fourth": 143 billion kronor
The "sixth": 13 billion kronor
Government individual retirement account assets: 120 billion kronor <6>
The "seventh" government pension fund for IRA money: 39 billion kronor

If the second AP-fund started, there is a good chance the rest will follow. This can lead to some movements in the private sector as well. Also usually the AP funds do not go public with negative screening decisions...