Origin Energy has responded to investor pressure and will in future fully disclose its membership of industry organisations and where their policies differ to its own on climate change in what is being seen as a significant win for the anti-carbon lobby. The decision came after a remarkable 46.3 per cent of proxy shareholders went…
Tag: international corporate governance
Tabcorp lashes ‘caucus’ of investors and proxy firms | afr.com
Sometimes CEOs forget exactly what the underlying principles of capitalism are. Here a CEO lashes out at proxy advisors and shareholders who object to excessive pay. That “opportunity to reflect” that led to “more appropriate pay?” That opportunity was the direct result of a 40 percent vote against. If customers do not like a product,…
Telstra considers executive pay overhaul after investors’ first strike against board | Australia news | The Guardian
We are very intrigued by the provision that a two-times vote against CEO pay has meaningful consequences in Australia. And needless to say, not impressed with the “everyone does it” excuse. Telstra is considering an overhaul of how it calculates executive bonuses after suffering a first strike from shareholders opposed to its remuneration report.More than…
Unilever U-turn shows how angry shareholders are securing change | Financial Times
It took just a few days after Unilever made public its proposal to move its headquarters to the Netherlands for the company to be faced with its first obstacle.Iain Richards, head of responsible investment at Columbia Threadneedle and one of the consumer goods company’s biggest shareholders, lambasted Unilever in a rare public statement in March,…
Sarah Wilson on the Four Billion Reasons Not to Mess with Proxy Plumbing
Our deepest thanks to Sarah Wilson of Minerva Analytics for allowing us to post her thoughtful essay on the SEC’s proxy plumbing initiative, and for her support in our efforts to keep the Main Street Investors Coalition and their various other corporate-funded fake front groups from spreading disinformation about shareholders and proxy advisors. Here is…
Gender quotas make an impact in the boardroom
Ceramics manufacturer Villeroy & Boch has been around since 1748, but it recently faced a very contemporary problem. The company was forced to leave a position on its supervisory board vacant for several months, because it was unable to find a qualified female candidate. Franziska Giffey, Germany’s minister of family affairs, said Villeroy & Boch’s…
New crackdown on reckless directors – GOV.UK
New sanctions are available in the UK for directors who are serial offenders. While the vast majority of UK companies are run responsibly, there are a minority of directors who deliberately dodge debts by dissolving companies then starting up a near identical business, with a new name. The practice is known as ‘phoenixing’ or ‘bumping…
What Adam Smith Knew About Trade Wars – WSJ
Member of Parliament Jesse Norman, one of the global leading lights on issues of corporate governance and economic policy, has a new book coming out next month about Adam Smith, and it was excerpted in the Wall Street Journal. What matters for [Adam] Smith isn’t the rhetoric of “free markets” but the reality of effective…
Don’t miss out on the investor revolution taking big firms like Royal Mail and Persimmon to task | This is Money
Revolts by shareholders over company pay and board appointments seem to have become more prevalent this year. Last month Royal Mail experienced the second biggest shareholder uprising in modern times, when 70 per cent rejected the pay package of new boss Rico Back. It was an embarrassing revolt that sent the postal-service firm back to…
Business world reacts to new Corporate Governance Code | ICAEW Economia
More on the new UK governance code: While the majority of business groups, accountancy firms and think tanks welcomed the reforms, some said they were not the “shake-up of corporate Britain” the government has previously promised.Roger Barker, head of corporate governance at the Institute of Directors, welcomed the Code, particularly its “engagement with a wider…
