[BOfH]

Originally Posted by Ret10Echo

From the Cerberus Press release:

Money talks, especially progs with cash:

Cerberus Capital Management LP, the New York-based investment firm that owns the largest U.S. gunmaker, will put the company up for sale, acting four days after one of its rifles was used in the Connecticut school shootings that left 26 people dead, including 20 six- and seven- year-olds.

Cerberus said it will seek to sell Freedom Group Inc. just hours after California Treasurer Bill Lockyer said he’ll propose that the state’s public pension funds, the two largest in the U.S., divest investments in firearm manufacturers that make guns prohibited under state law. The firm’s announcement followed a day in which the White House reiterated President Barack Obama’s support for a new ban on assault weapons and lawmakers called for stricter gun-control laws.

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Calsters Review

“Our role is to make investments on behalf of our clients who are comprised of the pension plans of firemen, teachers, policemen and other municipal workers and unions, endowments, and other institutions and individuals,” Cerberus said in the statement. “It is not our role to take positions, or attempt to shape or influence the gun-control policy debate. That is the job of our federal and state legislators.”

The California State Teachers’ Retirement System, which has $751 million overseen by Cerberus, said today it’s reviewing its $600 million investment in two Cerberus funds that are invested in Freedom Group. Calsters, with $155 billion in assets as of Oct. 31, is the second-largest U.S. pension fund. The largest is the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, with $241 billion.

Calsters “has established a thorough vetting process for potential investments that seeks to test not only their financial potential, but their social, human and environmental impacts as well,” the system said in a statement. “Moving forward, CalSTRS will work to ensure that all of our investments are taking these very important criteria into consideration.”

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New York

The New York State Common Retirement Fund, which manages $150 billion, is also reviewing its investments in gunmakers, according to Eric Sumberg, a spokesman for State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.

“As investors, we support Cerberus Capital Management for taking action today to sell its stake in the Freedom Group,” Sumberg said today in an e-mail.

New York City pension funds are reconsidering about $18 million in the stocks of Smith & Wesson, Sturm Ruger and two other companies whose businesses include gun manufacturing.

“We are currently conducting a review of our holdings and aggressively exploring all options, including divestment,” Matthew Sweeney, a spokesman for Comptroller John C. Liu, said in an e-mailed statement.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-1...-massacre.html