Amalgamated Bank, trustee to the LongView Funds, along with co-lead plaintiffs Central Laborers Pension Fund and City of New Orleans Employees’ Retirement System, and co-lead counsel Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann and Grant & Eisenhofer, announced a $139 million settlement resolving breach of fiduciary duty claims arising from the phone hacking allegations at News of the World and related matters, and News Corporation’s acquisition of Shine Group, the media company previously owned by Elisabeth Murdoch

The settlement will result in News Corporation recovering $139 million in insurance proceeds, and build on the corporate governance enhancements the company has taken at the direction of its board over the last year.

“We are proud of this historic settlement, which continues the 20-year history of Amalgamated Bank encouraging corporate reform and improved corporate governance,” stated Edward Grebow, president & chief executive officer of Amalgamated Bank. Amalgamated Bank’s LongView Funds currently hold 455,343 Class A common shares of News Corporation.

For two decades, Amalgamated’s LongView Funds have pursued a vigorous program of shareholder engagement, promoting high standards of environmental, social and corporate governance practices at the companies in which it invests. LongView Funds was the first investor to take legal action against Enron over its massive accounting fraud, recovering $7.2 billion for investors. The Funds also pioneered shareholder resolutions requiring clawback provisions on executive pay, urged companies to adopt practices to avoid sweatshop labor and environmental scandals, and pushed other corporate governance reforms. Such practices safeguard the Funds’ investments, encourage sustainable shareholder value creation and serve the interests the Funds’ core clients: employee pension and benefit funds.

Founded in 1923, Amalgamated Bank invests workers’ retirement savings through its LongView Funds.

For a copy of the complaint, click here.

To see the full terms of the settlement, which will be subject to court approval in Delaware, click here.