A French judge has order seven executives at Vivendi to stand trial over alleged financial wrong doing. The executives include Jean-Marie Messier, Edgar Bronfman Jr and Guillaume Hannezo (former Chief Financial Officer). Reuters has reported that the charges include divulging …

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Speaking at the Council of Institutional Investors Autumn conference in Los Angeles last week, Jules Kroll, chairman and co-founder of K2 Global Partners, told attendees that investors could improve the integrity of ratings by taking ownership of the process.

Investors …

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The Say on Pay continues to play out at US annual meetings this year – both in terms of management and shareholder proposals. Here are a few highlights prepared by Allie Monaco of ProxyGovernance:

  • Two management say on pay proposals
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Insitutional investors can shape the governance debate more effectively by integrating ownership into their mainstream investment activiites according to a new position paper published by Eumedion, the Dutch shareholders group.

As the paper points out, the focus around the publication …

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A new shareholder resolution, debuting at NYSE-listed General Electric Co.’s April 28 meeting, is asking the board to adopt a policy prohibiting any director receiving more than a 20% opposition vote from serving on a key board committee (audit, compensation …

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The market for US compensation consultants is looking increasingly concentrated according to new research by ProxyGovernance.

Based on data for annual meetings held between Jan. 1, 2009 and July 1, 2009, five consulting firms – Towers Perrinand Watson Wyatt (now …

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The nickel producer and explorer, Western Areas, saw its remuneration report defeated at its AGM on 6 November, as Australia’s stormy AGM season continues.The voting saw 52.5% vote against with a further 2.3% in abstentions. Four other remuneration-related resolutions were …

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Leading US mutual fund manager Oppenheimer Funds has written to the SEC supporting improved disclosure of commercial relationships which might create a conflict of interest.

In a Sept.24 letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission commenting on the SEC’s proposed …

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So it’s not just shareholder meetings that have voting problems. The UK’s general election collapsed into the realms of farce this week with disenfranchised voters complaining of lost ballot cards, out of date voting registers and exclusion from polling stations …

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The UK’s High Court has granted an injunction prohibiting the Director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) from taking any further steps in its plea bargain settlement with BAE Systems.

SFO has been investigating alleged bribery and corruption in BAE’s …

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