Manifest this week requisitioned a say on pay shareholder resolution at the Bank of Ireland and four more leading Irish listed companies: DCC; Elan; C&C Group; and Independent News & Media. As the course of this year’s European proxy season has progressed, we have noted a marked lack of progress in Irish corporate governance arrangements. In light […]
Read MoreToday’s FT leads with the news of Xtrata’s pay policy rebuff from shareholders as another example of shareholders flexing their muscules over pay for failure. Despite a 35% fall in EPS in the past year, the Xstrata board proposed increases in exec pay including a 4.8% rise for CEO Mick Davis who, according to the […]
Read MoreThe agencies that advise fund managers on how to vote are an increasingly important feature of the protests and rebellions that shareholders stage, writes Kate Burgess. …Manifest is another whose standing has risen in tandem with the focus on corporate governance and the pressure on institutional investors and pension funds to use their voting power….. […]
Read MoreEverybody? Somebody? Nobody? Anybody? There has been much head-scratching in recent months as the institutional investment community gets to grips with the various responsibilities for oversight that clearly did not fit together to prevent the financial crisis. One recent provocative contribution to this debate comes from Professional Pensions, which this month published a survey: “Should […]
Read MoreThe notice of the AGM of AMP Ltd, the Australian life assurance company, has been amended and re-issued in light of recent board changes. Meredith Hellicar resigned from the Board following the court judgement in the James Hardie case. Hellicar was one of seven James Hardie non-executive directors who Justice Ian Gzell found to have […]
Read MoreIt is only a few weeks since BP clashed with its shareholders about pay for its top executives at its annual meeting. Now Royal Dutch Shell appears to be heading in the same direction…. …. it will be the second year the Shell board has clashed with shareholders over pay. Last year, they [institutional investors] […]
Read MoreAlmost 14 years since European markets firmly embraced the concept of separating the role of Chair/CEO, most US issuers are still contemplating what it means for them. That could be set to change following the success of trade union SEIU’s proposal to reform the Bank of America board. The proposal to amend BoA’s bylaws requiring an independent […]
Read MoreThe Fortis shareholders’ meeting in Ghent, Belgium was stopped for half an hour, according to Radio Netherlands, after the Tuesday meeting descended into chaos. Shareholders angry at the proposed sale of Fortis Bank to French BNP Paribas threw shoes, coins and ballot boxes at management and demanded the board’s resignation. The revolt was led Lawyer […]
Read MoreThe Shareholder Communications Coalition sent a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday, April 24, 2009 in response to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal which suggested that the Commission may approve an amendment to New York Stock Exchange Rule 452 at staff level, instead of having the amendment considered by the full […]
Read MoreThe Observer, Sunday 26 April 2009 Retirement top-up deals promise £1m a year to Britain’s leading executives despite the downturn as the gap between bosses and workers widens. The research into the pensions of chief executives of stockmarket-listed companies was commissioned by the Observer and comes from benefits consultancy MM&K and investor agency Manifest. Source: […]
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