Sudan/Burma divestment snippet

John Gray has pointed out that giant Dutch public sector pension scheme PGGM has sold its holdings in PetroChina due to concerns about the activity of its parent CNPC in Sudan. One bit worth highlighting is what PGGM says about the PetroChina/CNPC relationship (this bit is actually from Global Pensions):

"Ownership, governance and financial streams between CNPC and PetroChina overlap to such an extent that PGGM regards both organisations as a single entity."

To me that means that if your pension fund holds PetroChina you need to think about the activities of CNPC too. It is involved in both Sudan and Burma. So whilst PetroChina might seem 'clean' on first glance, the relationship with CNPC clearly complicates it.