VEA Vice Chair Nell Minow wrote the attached letter to Senator Mark Warner about the Senate hearing on proxy advisors. Senator Mark Warner proxy issues may 2019
Tag: proxy advisory firms
Activist Starboard ends BMS proxy war after advisories back Celgene deal | FiercePharma
A classic example of blame the messenger — and another conclusive rebuttal to the claim that proxy advisors are not inclined to support management. Apparently, positive word from influential proxy advisory firms was enough to put the nail in the coffin on Starboard Value’s campaign to scuttle the mammoth Bristol-Myers Squibb-Celgene merger.Friday, the rebel investor said it would stop…
Lorraine Kelly: The Truth About Proxy Advisors
From ISS’s Lorraine Kelly: By any measure, the investment system that helps American workers grow their savings is strong, with $28 trillion in retirement assets now invested in public companies. But if you listen to what some are telling policymakers and others within the Beltway, you may be misled into believing that Main Street investors…
Glass Lewis Launches Pilot Program for New Report Feedback Statement Service; Registration Now Open — Sidley Austin LLP
Yesterday Glass Lewis & Co. announced that it will pilot a new Report Feedback Statement (RFS) service to a limited number of U.S. public companies and shareholder proponents during the 2019 proxy season. According to Glass Lewis, the purpose of the RFS service is to allow companies and shareholder proponents to “more fully and directly…
SEC Should Leave Proxy Advisory Firms Alone – Bloomberg
The biggest problem with the idea that the proxy advisers need to be reined turns on the fallacy that they are all powerful, something critics repeat a lot. They are not. Just one example, according to a stat in the Wall Street Journal, is that last year proxy advisory firms urged shareholders to vote against approving…
VEA Comment to the SEC on Proxies, Shareholder Proposals, and Proxy Advisory Firms
The full text is linked below. From the introduction and summary: We begin with three key points as context for this comment, all with one theme: the superiority of market tests over regulation whenever possible (unless there is a collective choice problem distorting the market, which is not the case here). 1. The determining issue…
Bipartisan bill proposes putting proxy firms under SEC’s authority – MarketWatch
We do not expect this bill to be enacted. It appears to be theater to prop up today’s proxy roundtable at the SEC. But it shows how powerful the forces are that are trying to eliminate the one independent source of information and guidance on proxy issues, proxy advisory firms. Six U.S. senators introduced a…
How Funds View and Vote on Shareholder Proposals – Briefing: Governance
Ning Chiu of Davis Polk has some useful data on proxy advisors and fund votes, supporting the conclusion that clients appreciate the analysis of proxy advisory firms but make their own decisions about shareholder proposals: Funds must vote their proxies on behalf of 100 million shareholders in the aggregate and vote based on a range…
ProxyInsight Repudiates Report Claiming Undue Influence of Proxy Advisors
The CEOs behind the fake dark money front groups Main Street Investor Coalition and American Council on Capital Formation have produced a bogus study purporting to show “robo-votes” by professional money managers, alleging they blindly follow the recommendations of proxy advisory firms. Now, in an extraordinary statement, the provider of the data used for the…
