Highlights from a new article on hedge fund activism on behalf of long-term shareholder value, from Robert Eccles (Oxford University), Aeisha Mastagni (CalSTRS), and Kirsty Jenkinson (CalSTRS): The time has come for “activist stewardship.” Simply put, this means putting the skills and techniques of activist hedge funds to work where a company’s financial performance is…
Tag: activism
Make climate risk reports mandatory for 480 FTSE firms, say investors | Environment | The Guardian
An influential group of investors is urging UK regulators to make climate risk reporting mandatory for nearly 500 FTSE-listed firms. The Investment Association (IA), which represents 250 members with £8.5tn in assets, has thrown its weight behind calls for compulsory environmental disclosures, amid concerns that listed companies are not being transparent about how climate risks…
COVID-19 and Activism
From Sidley Austin: As the COVID-19 pandemic began to unfold in the US in early March, it quickly became clear that the crisis would act as a “poison pill” that would sharply reduce shareholder activism in the spring. Initially, many activists were preoccupied with their own survival and/ or attracting new capital rather than launching…
Billionaire Chris Hohn forces first annual investor vote on climate policy | Financial Times
Spanish airports operator Aena is set to become the first company in the world to give shareholders an annual vote on its effort to tackle climate change, bowing to pressure from billionaire UK hedge fund manager Chris Hohn. Sir Christopher’s TCI Fund Management, one of Aena’s largest independent shareholders, has been at loggerheads with the…
Boohoo Group PLC vows to rectify failings but margins remain a question
Boohoo Group PLC (LON:BOO) has vowed to address its corporate governance responsibilities after an independent review confirmed poor working conditions and low rates of pay in its supply chain. The report found that Its senior directors “knew for a fact that there were very serious issues about the treatment of factory workers in Leicester and…
Activist Trian Fund Management Takes Stake in Comcast – WSJ
Tough when the insiders have controlling shares, but then Trian is pretty savvy. It will be interesting to see where this goes. Trian Fund Management LP, a hedge fund known for pushing big companies to make operational and other changes, has launched an activist campaign against Comcast Corp. in a bet that the cable-TV and…
CERES Ties Governance to Environment
From Ceres, a new report called Blueprint for Responsible Policy Engagement on Climate Change. The full report is below. An excerpt: Companies that establish robust governance systems to address climate change as a systemic risk and align their direct and indirect lobbying efforts to support science-based climate policies will drive the creation of a regulatory…
Climate risk & board conflicts at Standard Bank – Just Share
n 8 June 2020, 14 climate justice NGOs led by Just Share wrote to asset managers with shares in Standard Bank Group Limited (Standard Bank), calling on them to vote against the election of five climate-conflicted directors at the bank’s AGM on 26 June. Seven of Standard Bank’s 18 board members have close ties to…
EA Put On Blast By Investor Group Over Huge Payments To Top Executives – GameSpot
Gaming giant Electronic Arts has been put on blast by one of its investors for the lucrative pay packages that the publisher gives to some of its highest-ranking executives. Dieter Waizenegger, the director of The CtW Investment Group, said in a notice that EA has “gone too far in terms of executive pay,” and is…
Preparing for Post-Pandemic Corporate Activism
Pre-pandemic, activists found new acceptance among institutional investors as they focused on unlocking value, creating efficiencies, and operating in a global environment with a focus on corporate and social responsibility governance issues. In what might be seen as a direct response to this trend, in August 2019, a group of 181 chief executives signed a…
