Calpers turns up heat on Lilly

California Public Employees’ Retirement System has sent letters to Eli Lilly and Co.’s 1,600 largest shareholders seeking support for a proxy resolution that would require only a majority vote by shareholders to amend its bylaws, Bloomberg reports. The Indianapolis drugmaker requires a supermajority of shareholders, which Calpers says restricts change and ultimately retards stock prices.

Lilly has said allowing a majority vote would expose the company to the risk of a few shareholders wanting to make changes that wouldn’t benefit the company in the long term. Its annual meeting is in April.