American Funds shareholders reject ‘genocide-free’ investment-screening proposal

‘Genocide-free’ measure rejected at American Funds

LOS ANGELES — Shareholders at American Funds have rejected a measure that seeks to screen out investments possibly linked to genocide in international hot spots like Sudan’s Darfur region.

The proposal came before shareholders at 16 of American Funds’ 30 mutual funds. It needed a majority to pass. An American Funds spokesman says the most support at any of the funds where ballots were counted Tuesday was about 12 percent.

The activist group Investors Against Genocide has put genocide-free investing proposals onto ballots at several fund companies this year, including Fidelity Investments and Vanguard Group. But each measure has fallen far short of majority support.

American Funds is among the biggest fund families with about $900 billion. It’s privately owned by Los Angeles-based Capital Group.