Blog - Page 170 of 179 - Minerva-Manifest

Pershing Square throws wrinkle into Target proxy fight

As if proxy fights don’t have enough drama, the New York Times’ DealBook reports that a new fight is brewing between a Pershing Square dissident nominee for a seat on the board at Target Corp. and the company. The nominee, Ronald Gilson, a law professor at Stanford, has proposed the use of a so-called universal […]

Agius against vote highest for FTSE 100 Chairman in over five years

The Times sources Manifest data today in it’s report on the Barclays AGM. The vote against the Chairman was the largest against vote recorded on the election of a FTSE 100 Chairman during the last five years. Some 16.14% of votes cast were against his re-election, while a further 0.92% of those voting abstained. If […]

Hellenic Exchanges seek re-pricing of underwater options

Just a year after approving a new share option programme, shareholders at Hellenic Exchanges (ATH:EXAE) are being asked at their AGM on 6 May to approve the repricing of share options granted during 2008. The options were originally granted at an exercise price of €11.76, with one third vesting annually from the first anniversary of grant. […]

Cross-border voting: breaking the chain of intermediaries

The EU has taken another step forward in its financial services reform agenda and launched a consultation on the harmonisation of the legal framework surrounding securities transactions and share holding functions. European finance and economy ministers (ECOFIN) have asked the European Commission to put forward legislative proposals to increase legal certainty and efficiency of securities holdings and […]

Belgium tightens governance code

Belgium has announced an update to its 2004 comply or explain corporate governance code. The new code attempts to deal with some of the issues flagged up by the current economic crisis with a particular emphasis on say on pay disclosures. The proposals include publishing a remuneration policy, detailed information for the earnings of each executive director […]

Eddington concerns resonate with shareholders

Ahead of the Rio Tinto AGMs, Manifest flagged up its concerns regarding the re-election of Sir Roderick Eddington in our meeting business report. Manifest’s US partners, Proxy Governance, issued an ‘against’ recommendation on his re-election. The results of the voting the AGMs in London and Sydney have now been released. Each of the director election […]

PSE calls for shareholder activism

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) is urging shareholders to take advantage of the upcoming AGM season to assert their rights and to “not wait until they have been trampled on”. PSE director and co-chair of the recently established corporate governance committe, Jose Luis Javier, said: “The current global financial crisis has put the spotlight on […]

How to avoid activists new guidance from The Conference Board

The Conference Board Governance Center has got together with Damien Park of Hedge Fund Solutions to produce guidance and a checklist of issues for boards to consider in their relations with shareholders. In particular the report is focused on how to avoid “costly and disruptive confrontations” with activist funds. The report argues that boards are well served by taking a proactively […]