New Hampshire pulls $239 million from Ken Fisher
Its announcement brings the amount divested from his firm to more than $2 billion.
New Hampshire’s state pension pulled the $239 million it had invested with Ken Fisher, bringing the total amount divested from the billionaire’s firm to more than $2 billion.
Tuesday’s move by the New Hampshire Retirement System comes after Fidelity Investments and several pensions withdrew their money after Mr. Fisher made lewd comments at an industry conference.
New Hampshire’s investment with Fisher Investments represented about 2.6% of the system’s assets, the pension said in a statement.
“The recent statements made by Ken Fisher are not only offensive and inappropriate, they are incompatible with the values of the retirement system and bring into question Mr. Fisher’s judgment,” according to the statement.
The New Hampshire system, which manages $9.2 billion in assets, hired Fisher in September 2001.
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Fisher Investments is seeing an intensifying backlash since the firm’s founder made offensive comments earlier this month about women, spoke of genitalia and then failed to immediately understand the gravity of his words. Mr. Fisher later issued an apology.
New Hampshire joins pensions in Iowa, Michigan, Boston and Philadelphia that have divested their money.
Camas, Wash.-based Fisher Investments, which managed $112 billion as of September, is also facing scrutiny from other pensions that are reviewing their relationship with the firm.
Fisher Investments was managing about $10.9 billion on behalf of 36 state or municipal government entities, including pension plans, at the end of 2018, according to the firm’s Securities and Exchange Commission registration. That figure is down from $13.2 billion at the end of 2017.
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