Save Darfur group targets Buffett, Fidelity

The advocacy group Save Darfur is pressing Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway and the mutual fund company Fidelity Investments to divest from investments in Sudan. Jeff Tyler reports.
 

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Uber-investor Warren Buffett will face a different kind of activism this weekend at the annual meeting of his holding company. The advocacy group Save Darfur is targeting Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway and the mutual fund company Fidelity Investments. Marketplace's Jeff Tyler explains.

JEFF TYLER: Both companies have been singled-out because of their investments in a Chinese oil company called PetroChina.

    JUDITH PORTER: In practical terms, we are hoping to convince Mr. Buffett that he should do a targeted divestment of his shares in PetroChina. 

That's Judith Porter, a shareholder in Berkshire Hathaway. She'll present a divestment proposal at the company's annual meeting this weekend.

What does a Chinese oil company have to do with genocide in Sudan? PetroChina is a subsidiary of China National Petroleum Company, or CNPC, which does business in the African nation.

So, Porter argues, it indirectly funds the genocide.

    PORTER: Mister Buffett claims that PetroChina has no direct investments in the Sudan. But in fact, PetroChina and CNPC are virtually the same company. In fact, if not in name. 

Porter says PetroChina and CNPC share the same management and have overlapping boards of directors. In essence, she argues that PetroChina is a front company.

In a written statement, Berkshire Hathaway argues that divestment could backfire. If the Chinese went ahead and sold their assets back to Khartoum, the statement suggests, the Sudanese government could actually be better off financially.

I'm Jeff Tyler for Marketplace.