An article in the online edition of Mother Jones, an of alternative magazine, looks
at the strategy of political activists targeting investors in controversial companies to apply political pressure.

The Mother Jones story examines Talisman Energy’s controversial involvement in the Sudan. “A growing number of church and human-rights groups… have launched one of the largest divestment campaigns since apartheid ended in South Africa, and have already persuaded a number of billion-dollar investors to take their money elsewhere.”

“The non-governmental community has become considerably more sophisticated,”
says Adam Pener, a senior analyst at the William J. Casey Institute of the Center for Security Policy, who has helped to organize the campaign. “They’re persuaded that if they go after the funding sources of wrong-doers, significant leverage can be applied.”

Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would prevent firms investing in Sudanese oil development from raising money in the U.S. capital markets or trading on the New York Stock Exchange or NASDAQ. It notes that 18 years of civil war in the Sudan have left two million people dead, and another 4.4 million homeless.

One of the primary targets of the divestment campaign has been Talisman Energy. Fidelity Investments has been targeted for its position in Talisman. While it sold a large position in the firm, it has since bought much of it back.

Fidelity remains its second-biggest investor, behind Jarislowsky Fraser. Canadian firms round out the top seven investors, with Fidelity followed by Sun Life, TD, TAL, Mackenzie and IG Investment Management as its top institutional shareholders.

The latest issue of Investment Executive also looks at the issue of activism and controversial investing.