BAC’s Proxy Voting Service Scores Victory for BAC Funds
Lowe’s Shareholders Side with Union

An anti-‘poison-pill’ measure proposed by BAC’s Trowel Trades S&P 500 Index Fund and submitted through BAC’s Proxy Voting Service won shareholder approval at Lowe’s annual meeting in May.
The Union’s proposal approved by shareholders rejected the company’s anti-takeover ‘poison-pill’ that had been in place since 1988, and gives shareholders a voice in any future merger or takeover discussions. Lowe’s ‘poison-pill’ had allowed the company to use tactics, including some not in shareholders’ interests, to block takeover attempts. One example of a ‘poison pill’ is the issuance of preferred stock that gives shareholders the right to redeem their shares at a premium after a corporate takeover.

According to IU Assistant to the Secretary-Treasurer Thomas F. McIntyre, who represented the Trowel Trades S&P 500 Index Fund at the meeting, “Our first commitment is to make sure that the companies BAC pension funds invest in are run in a manner that works in participants’ — BAC members’ — interest. Through IPF’s and other BAC funds’ investments in the Trowel Trades S&P 500 Index Fund, we were able to go to the shareholders’ meeting as owners of more than 15,000 shares of Lowe’s stock and explain to other shareholders why we should have a say in future merger activities.”
The victory at Lowe’s is just one more example of BAC pension funds using their investments to protect members’ investments and retirement security.

BAC Proxy Voting Service
The BAC Proxy Voting Service helps to ensure that members’ pension contributions are invested in companies that work in their interests — not against them. It also helps to educate corporations on the benefits to their bottom-line of using BAC signatory contractors and members on their construction projects.

The International Pension Fund and an increasing number of Local funds are already taking advantage of these programs by allocating a portion of their Plan assets to the Index Fund and signing up for the Proxy Voting Service.