CalPERS flexes its muscles on performance, governance

The California Public Employees' Retirement System issues warnings to six companies on corporate governance and financial performance.

The Columbus Dispatch reports:

Cardinal Health Inc. is among six companies that need to improve their financial performance and corporate-governance practices, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System said.

Calpers, as the biggest U.S. public pension fund is known, also named Brocade Communications Systems Inc., Clear Channel Communications Inc., Mellon Financial Corp., Office-Max Inc. and Sovereign Bancorp Inc. to its annual "Focus List" of companies that the fund said are in need of the most improvement.

"The stock performance and governance of these companies is unacceptable to us and other shareowners," said Rob Feckner, Calpers board president.

The pension fund each year targets as many as 10 of the public companies in which it invests with the goal of forcing them to improve practices such as executive compensation, auditor independence or financial returns.