Fisher divestment tops $3 billion after Texas pension bolts

The state pension fund of Texas is pulling $350 million from Fisher Investments as more investors flee the firm following vulgar comments from its founder.

“With respect to our fiduciary duty, we are defunding Fisher Investments,” the pension said in a statement Friday. Fisher had served as an external manager in the international equities portfolio with $350 million under management as of Sept. 30.

The move by the Employees Retirement System of Texas brings the total reported withdrawals from Fisher to more than $3.1 billion. The Los Angeles fire and police pension board voted Thursday to yank about $500 million and Goldman Sachs said in a filing Friday it was dropping Fisher as the underlying manager of a global equity fund.

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Ken Fisher is suffering an intensifying backlash from his remarks on Oct. 8 in which he spoke about genitalia and then failed to immediately understand the gravity of his words. He later apologized. In the ensuing days, pension funds in New Hampshire, Iowa, Michigan, Boston and Philadelphia decided to cut ties with his firm.

In Los Angeles, the nine-member board debated the costs involved with firing Fisher before voting to divest.

“Fisher’s words reach millions and only do damage,” Los Angeles pension commissioner Brian Pendleton said at the meeting. “Other pension funds are going to come to the same conclusion and we shouldn’t be the last ones to turn the lights off.”

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