JCRC THANKS MASSACHUSETTS PENSION BOARD FOR COMPLETE DIVESTMENT FROM IRAN

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 4, 2012

Contact:
Jeremy Burton
617-457-8651

(JANUARY 4–BOSTON) The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston issued the following statement today:

We thank Treasurer Steven Grossman and the Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management (PRIM) Board for making Massachusetts one of the first states to completely divest pension funds from Iran.

“We are grateful to Governor Patrick, Senate President Murray, and Speaker DeLeo for their leadership in enacting this important law, as well as to Congressman Barney Frank and the entire Massachusetts delegation for their support of its August 2010 passage,” said Bill Gabovitch, JCRC’s President. “We also praise Treasurer Grossman’s leadership on completing the divesture ahead of the mandated schedule.”

“Iran is the world’s leading state sponsor of terror, providing support to those who seek to attack America’s allies and interests. Through this divestment, our Commonwealth is supporting national and worldwide efforts to halt the Iranian regime’s race toward nuclear capability,” said Jeremy Burton, JCRC’s Executive Director. “We hope efforts like these encourage the government of Iran stop its efforts to destabilize the region.” 

According to the Department of the State Treasurer, under the terms of Chapter 232 of the Acts of 2010, the PRIM Board retained Institutional Shareholder Services, Inc. to develop a list of companies with significant business interests in Iran’s energy sector, which would then be targeted for divestment. As the process moved ahead, PRIM achieved compliance not only by selling off securities in the targeted companies, but also because some of the companies severed their ties with Iran and were dropped from the restricted list. 

The PRIM Board finalized the Iran divestment on December 30, 2011.

JCRC is available for comment upon request.

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