Pay deals for top company bosses in the US face mounting opposition from some of Europe’s most influential investors even as their large American counterparts continue to provide solid support for exorbitant executive remuneration packages. The investment arms of UBS, Axa, Legal & General, BNP Paribas along with APG, Europe’s largest pension fund, voted against…
Category: institutional investors
Shareholder Rights Directive II fact sheet – GOV.UK
New guidelines for UK fund managers: Occupational pension schemes are required to document and disclose online their policy on engaging with investee companies, their investment strategy and their arrangements with asset managers. The Pensions Regulator will update their guidance with regards to engagement, investment strategy and asset manager arrangements. Trustees have an important role to…
Findings of the ISS Global Survey 2019
The findings of the annual ISS survey on investor priorities: Board Gender Diversity: Majorities of both investors (61 percent) and non-investors (55 percent) agreed with the view that board gender diversity is an essential attribute of effective board governance regardless of the company or its market. Approximately 27 percent of investors tended to favor a market-by-market…
Big US sustainable funds fail to support ESG shareholder proposals | Financial Times
Big US fund managers that have promoted their credentials in tackling sustainability issues have done little to support environmental and social shareholder proposals, their voting records reveal. During the 2019 shareholder voting season, funds labelled by BlackRock, JPMorgan Asset Management and Vanguard as sustainable frequently sided with a company’s management and against shareholder proposals on…
Why Isn’t Your Mutual Fund Sticking Up for You?
Delaware Supreme Court Chief Justice Leo E. Strine Jr. and Harvard Kennedy School professor Antonio Weiss want mutual funds to consider the same long-term issues raised in the BRT stakeholder statement: Growing inequality and stagnant wages are forcing a much-needed debate about our corporate governance system. Are corporations producing returns only for stockholders? Or are they…
Executive Compensation: The Role of Public Company Shareholders
Barbara Novick of BlackRock, Inc., one of the largest and most powerful institutional investors in the world, wrote about CEO pay and the role of shareholders. Of particular note is her assessment of proxy advisors, making it clear that proxy advisor clients appreciate the analysis and recommendations but have their own views. Proxy advisors are…
A Catch 22 for Asset Managers
Jasmin Sethi writes about the impact of concentrated voting power and calls for better disclosure of the exercise of ownership rights: The big three—BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard—are victims of their own size. As they have increased their assets under management, they have also increased their voting power as typically they vote the shares for…
Boaz Weinstein Sues BlackRock Alleging Corporate-Governance Failings – WSJ
Saba Capital Management, a $1.7 billion hedge fund run by Boaz Weinstein, has sued BlackRock Inc., BLK 1.63% arguing the world’s largest asset manager has moved to block outsiders from gaining board seats at three of its funds and effecting change.In two lawsuits filed late Tuesday, Saba alleged that BlackRock’s actions run counter to the…
Index Funds May be Able to Vote 41% of S&P 500 Shares in the Future | Corporate & Securities Law Blog – JDSupra
Research by Lucian A. Bebchuk, Harvard Law School, and Scott Hirst, Boston University School of Law, indicates three key index fund advisors could cast 34% of votes in the next decade at S&P 500 companies, and about 41% of votes at S&P 500 companies in two decades. The key index fund managers are BlackRock, Vanguard,…
