Once again, the business case for ESG/SDG: Over the course of a day of conversations with some of the top executives in the nation during last week’s conference — DealBook: Playing for the Long Term — a common refrain was heard, echoing the sentiments of Larry Fink, chief executive of BlackRock, the largest investor in…
Morningstar slams hidden backers behind anti-ESG campaign | Portfolio Adviser
Jackie Cook speaks to Portfolio Advisor about the CEO funded fake dark money front group, Main Street Investors Coalition. Their claim to “represent” individual investors is, as we’ve pointed out many times, completely bogus as not one single actual advocate for investors has endorsed or joined them. Morningstar has slammed an anti-environmental, social and governance…
ISS Comment Letter to the SEC on the Proxy Process
ISS has filed its comment letter for the Proxy Roundtable with the SEC. Some highlights: They respond to those who claim that proxy advisors are not regulated and those who claim they control the proxy voting decisions of their clients: “As a registered investment adviser, we have a fiduciary obligation to our clients to provide…
More Useless Sock Puppet Bluster from Fake Front Group Main Street Investor Coalition
Fake dark money front group Main Street Investment Coalition is really getting in a lather about the upcoming November 15 SEC Proxy Roundtable. The instantly discredited CEO-funded astroturf organization is struggling to find anyone who is not self-interested to try to make the case that the only source of truly independent research about corporate governance…
Heidrick & Struggles Takes Action with Board Diversity Pledge Globally
Search firm Heidrick & Struggles has announced that on an annual basis at least half of its cumulative slate of initial board candidates presented to clients will be diverse, reaffirming a commitment to promoting diversity in board of director searches globally. Developed in collaboration with Stanford’s Rock Center for Corporate Governance, Heidrick & Struggles’ pledge is designed…
In Boardroom, Blackstone CEO Schwarzman Surrounds Himself With Men – TheStreet
What interested us most in this article about the poor record of private equity firms on board diversity was this detail about Carlyle’s focus on the board diversity of its holdings as well as its own board. Carlyle, another big private-equity firm based in Washington, hired Kara Helander last month as chief diversity officer to focus…
SpencerStuart Board Index 2018
The 2018 SpencerStuart Board Index has been released. Some of the highlights: S&P 500 boards appointed 428 new directors during the 2018 proxy year, the most since 2004 and an increase of 8% from 2017. » 57% of boards added at least one new director. Nearly two-thirds (65%) of the incoming class come from outside…
So The SEC’s Decision to Rescind the 14-Year Old Proxy Advisory Rulings Was Apparently a Whim With No Documentation
The government in general and the regulatory agencies and independent commissions in particular have a heavy burden of transparency and documentation to justify their authority to promulgate regulations and issue judgments that have the force of law. Because they are not subject to the electoral oversight of the legislative bodies, there is a huge body…
Buyback Cannibalism Was the Final Death Blow to Sears
Would $6 billion in cash have kept Sears out of bankruptcy? It sure wouldn’t have hurt. Sears’ ability to stay in business is in doubt after the company filed for bankruptcy protection this month. Yet Sears spent $6 billion buying back its own shares since 2005 in a futile effort to help support its stock…
MSCI indexes will not restrict stocks that deny shareholders a vote | Reuters
Index provider MSCI Inc (MSCI.N) said on Tuesday it would allow companies that give shareholders unequal voting rights to remain on its current equity indexes, backing down from an earlier proposal that would have reduced exposure to such companies.But MSCI, whose indexes guide hundreds of billions of dollars in assets, said it would launch a…
