Potential Carillion conflict of interest requires proper investigation, says UNISON

The work and pensions select committee investigating the collapse of Carillion must leave no stone unturned when it questions the asset management firms who held shares in the outsourcing firm, says UNISON. Earlier this week UNISON general secretary Dave Prentis wrote to the select committee chair Frank Field MP urging him to look closely at the role of companies like BlackRock and Henderson Global Investors, which bet on Carillion’s share price falling in the days before the firm’s collapse. The committee has now said that it intends to do this. Although short selling is not illegal in itself, major shareholders such as BlackRock, Henderson Global Investors, UBS and Standard Life were all banking on Carillion’s stock value falling. BlackRock are also responsible for running the outsourcing firm’s defined contribution pension scheme. UNISON believes that this could amount to a significant conflict of interest. In the letter to Frank Field MP, Dave Prentis says it’s important to know if any of the major shareholders were using the Carillion workers’ pensions money to bet against the firm’s share price falling. He also asks the question whether asset managers can really be acting in a pension scheme’s best interests when colleagues in another part of an asset management firm are attempting to drive down that same company’s share price. UNISON is also calling for tougher corporate governance rules. The Disclosure of Voting Principles – introduced after the fi...
Source: UNISON meat hygiene - Category: Food Science Authors: Tags: Article Source Type: news