CalPERS Seeks to Divide Top 2 Posts at Bassett

Bassett Furniture Industries Inc. said the California Public Employees’ Retirement System has filed a shareholder proposal calling for separation of the chairman and chief executive positions at the furniture maker. CalPERS said it filed the nonbinding proposal after watching Bassett’s sales and operating income decline during fiscal 1996, placing the company on CalPERS’ 1997 list of under-performing target companies for the second year in a row. CalPERS, the largest U.S. public pension fund, holds more than 186,000 shares of the Bassett, Va.-based furniture maker.