Newsletters

This year’s proxy season will once again bring attention to shifting investor priorities, with environmental and social (E&S) issues at the forefront of engagement discussions and shareholder resolutions. Changes over the past year to the policies and voting practices of several major index investors, along with a bold pronouncement by BlackRock that corporations should “serve …

2018 Proxy Season Preview (March 2018) Read More »

The 2017 proxy season will go down as a turning point for key environmental and social (E&S) initiatives as a result of pronounced shifts in the positions and voting policies of several major asset managers. For the first time, three resolutions on the management of climate change risks won majority support in the face of …

2017 Proxy Season Review (Aug. 2017) Read More »

Against a backdrop of regulatory uncertainty, shareholder activists are pressing forward this spring with their efforts to promote governance reforms, improve transparency, and enhance shareholder rights through private ordering. Overall, this will prove to be a challenging year on a variety of fronts.   Download Now

As 2016 draws to a close, shareholder proponents and proxy advisors have begun laying the groundwork for the 2017 proxy season. Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis recently released their U.S. voting policy updates which address a range of issues including directors’ outside board service, restrictions on the submission of binding shareholder proposals, governance …

Proxy Advisors and Investors Prep: 2017 Proxy Season (Dec. 2016) Read More »

Alliance’s Waheed Hassan and Thompson Hine’s Derek Bork are featured in this month’s Activist Insight magazine.     Download Now

For a second year, proxy access was the preeminent theme during proxy season, with over 200 resolutions filed—reportedly the most ever seen in any shareholder proposal category in a given year. As a result of negotiated withdrawals and voluntary adoptions, over 250 companies had established access rights by the end of June—seven times as many …

2016 Proxy Season Review (July 2016) Read More »

The 2016 proxy season is shaping up to be another milestone year for proxy access. The sheer volume of proposals—at close to 200—has well surpassed 2015 levels and continues to spark a tidal wave of corporate adoptions. In addition to the New York City Comptroller’s Boardroom Accountability Project, now in its second year, individual investors …

2016 Proxy Season Preview (March 2016) Read More »

Waheed Hassan, Senior Managing Director of Alliance Advisors’ Activism Defense Practice, has compiled the 2016 year-to-date Activism Overview report. This report includes data on management win-rates, information on first time and occasional activists, and the year’s ISS recommendation trends.     Download Now

As in 2015, proxy access is shaping up to be a dominant theme of the 2016 proxy season. Most recently, Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) issued additional policy revisions pertaining to proxy access, and new variations of shareholder proposals are being introduced. These developments are discussed in detail in our January 2016 Newsletter.   Download Now

In preparation for the 2016 proxy season, proxy advisors Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis & Co. have released their final policy changes for next year. ISS’s updates take effect for annual meetings held on or after Feb. 1, 2016, while Glass Lewis’s will apply to annual meetings on or after Jan. 1, 2016.This …

Proxy Advisor Policy Changes for 2016 (Nov. 2015) Read More »