Church of England considering selling stake in CAT

Crain's Chicago Business reports:

The Church of England this week voted to consider selling $4.4 million of Caterpillar Inc. shares, because the company’s bulldozers have been used to raze Palestinian homes in Israeli-occupied areas of the West Bank and Gaza.

The resolution was passed Monday at a meeting of the church’s governing body, but must be reviewed by committees that invest the church’s $10.4 billion portfolio, according to a spokesman for the church.

The group of bishops who govern the church voted to “heed the call from our sister church, the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East, for morally responsible investment in the Palestinian occupied territories and, in particular, to disinvest from companies profiting from the illegal occupation, such as Caterpillar Inc. until they change their policies,” according to the resolution.

No word yet on whether the Church of England is going to divest itself of stocks of companies that do business in Cuba or North Korea.