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Highlighting Exxon match, financiers prompt companies to keep investor spats out of court

A group of around 40 large European and American institutional investors on Tuesday urged companies to refrain from taking investors to court over disputes associating with their propositions.

The group, which represents $4.4 trillion in possessions under management, highlighted the suit filed by Exxon Mobil versus two activist groups, in which the oil company looks for to bar their environment resolution.

They said long-lasting financiers would suffer if companies increasingly seek the judgment of a court for settling arguments on investor proposals.

We are concerned that these actions will hinder the filing of proposals concerning the sustainability issues that are product to the performance of our equity and fixed earnings portfolios, the investors stated.

We wish to protect the right of investors to use their vote to choose for themselves when a proposal, sustainability-related or otherwise, remains in their benefits which of their stakeholders.

Among the group are pension financier APG, pension fund PGGM and insurance provider NN Group from the Netherlands, Nordic banks Nordea and Swedbank, and a variety of other financiers from throughout Europe and the U.S.

. The group backed a comparable call to business made by the U.S. Council of Institutional Investors in February to let the Securities and Exchange Commission