Pension Fund

The state must pay a $500-million contribution withheld from the California State Teachers Retirement System, the nation's third-largest pension fund, a judge ruled Wednesday. Sacramento Superior Court Judge Judy Holzer said California is obligated to make the payment to the pension fund as part of its payments to 63,000 retired teachers and their relatives. The withholding of the $500 million was due to a bill, passed in May 2003, when then-Gov.

California's giant teacher pension fund has reached a nearly $47-million settlement with Qwest Communications International Inc. over a lawsuit claiming that the Denver-based telephone company defrauded the fund out of $150 million. The settlement, made public Wednesday, calls for Qwest, its accountants and banks to pay the pension fund $45 million. Former Chief Executive Joseph Nacchio must pay $1.5 million.

Another California public pension fund called on the supermarket chains to end a 3-month-old strike and lockout that the fund says is harming its investments in the chains. The Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Assn. voted to urge the stores -- Safeway Inc., which owns Vons and Pavilions; Kroger Co., the parent of Ralphs; and Albertsons Inc. -- to solve their dispute with the United Food and Commercial Workers union.

A major pension fund has cut its stake in Calabasas-based Xircom Inc. by about 154,200 shares. Between Nov. 2 and 9, the State of Wisconsin Investment Board, which manages funds for Wisconsin state employees, sold off about 1% of its holdings in Xircom and now owns 7.6% of the firm, or 1.1 million common shares. The divested shares were sold for $9 to $9.50 each.

The United Auto Workers union said it received a guarantee that the pension fund for Chrysler workers would get an additional $1.2 billion as a result of the pending sale of the struggling automaker. UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said both Chrysler's current parent, Germany's Daimler, and its next owner, Cerberus Capital Management, would contribute to the pension plan.

The California State Teachers' Retirement System pension fund will publish its votes on corporate issues for stocks it owns and lobby for regulators to impose such disclosure requirements on mutual funds, state Treasurer Phil Angelides said Wednesday. Federal regulators have proposed that mutual funds should reveal their votes, a move proponents say would stop funds from courting management at other shareholders' expense.

New Jersey will sue companies whose misleading financial reports or mismanagement led to losses in the state's $73-billion pension funds, Atty. Gen. David Samson said. The state has identified at least $1 billion in losses that may be due to improper actions by corporations whose stock was held by the funds, the attorney general's office said. The funds have declined 22% over the last two years because of a falling stock market and increased pension payments.

The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, a Canadian retirement fund manager, agreed to buy four marine container terminals in the New York area and in British Columbia from Hong Kong-based Orient Overseas (International) Ltd. for $2.4 billion. Combined annual sales of the operations total about $500 million. They are the New York Container Terminal on New York's Staten Island and Global Terminal and Container Systems Inc. at the Port of New Jersey.

General Motors Corp. said Wednesday that its pension fund had sold a "majority" of its 30 million U.S.-traded shares of News Corp. The fund received the preferred shares, each worth four ordinary shares, as part of the sale of its controlling stake in Hughes Electronics of El Segundo to Sydney, Australia-based News Corp. on Dec. 22, GM spokesman Jerry Dubrowski said. The transaction follows GM's sale in January of 28.6 million News Corp. shares, also payment for Hughes Electronics.

Pasadena's $23-million, 11-story Lake-Corson Office Building, under construction at 301 N. Lake Ave., has become a monument to union brotherhood. The building is owned and being developed by the Operating Engineers Pension Trust Fund, which is affiliated with the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 12.