May 07

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Activism

Motorola

Carl Icahn, the activist investor, has accused Motorola’s management of a lack of engagement and oversight, and repeated his call for shareholders to support his election to the US communication company’s board. In a letter to Motorola investors, Icahn said the company had lost over $20bn in shareholder value since last October. He promised that, if elected, he would “serve as an active, engaged director … unafraid to demand management accountability and to ask the tough questions that appear to me to have gone unasked”.

Commenting on Icahn's approaches to Motorola, Manifest's US partners PROXY Governance said in its recent research report: "We believe Icahn can bring a different perspective to the board and has a keen sense on how to add value to both long-term and short-term shareholders." "Icahn's willingness to tackle important governance matters only strengthens our opinion for an Icahn seat." "...we feel he brings a set of skills and perspectives that will be additive to the board, based upon the nearly four decades that he has spent analyzing, owning and running companies."

CalSTRS Focus List

Engagement between the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) and companies it had identified as poor governance performers has brought improvements, the US public pension fund has claimed.

Of the five companies the fund had identified as poor performers in October 2005, four — Compuware Corporation, Sirius Satellite Radio, Level 3 Communications and Solectron Corporation - have made significant changes to their governance, leading to increased board independence, improved accountability to shareholders and positive gains in the market, CalSTRS said. Engagement is continuing with the other company named, UnumProvident.

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