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 Four other remuneration-related resolutions were withdrawn in light of overwhelming opposition (by more than 2 to 1) from those voting […]
Read MoreThe first big week of Australian proxy season has seen a number of revolts on executive pay, with one ASX 100 company losing the remuneration report vote and two others seeing very significant dissent. At Downer Edi, the remuneration report was defeated, with investors reacting to reduced performance hurdles for the long-term incentive plan and […]
Read MoreIn early September, Manifest filed a complaint with the Irish Stock Exchange against Ryanair regarding a breach of their obligations under the Listing Rules. We noted that while Provision D.2.2 of the Combined Code recommends disclosure of the proxies lodged at general meetings on a website, that Ryanair had failed to do so. Manifest’s complaint […]
Read MoreWhen is an abstention not an abstention? A possible party-time trivia question for lawyers maybe, but a question with real consequences for shareholders which highlights yet again the importance of ensuring local knowledge is applied to voting decisions. Most company law regimes have special provisions for dealing with ‘qualified majority’ issues. They may differ one from another […]
Read MoreIn a move highlighting the changing landscape of shareholder-company relations in Germany, two DAX 30 constituents are meeting with investors in advance of the first shareholder votes on executive pay. Top executives from Siemens AG and Thyssen-Krupp AG — which will convene AGMs on 26 January 2010 — will huddle with several key investors today, with executive remuneration likely to be a point of […]
Read MoreShareholders have today seen an early benefit of the recently implemented Shareholder Rights Directive, as Ryanair finally disclosed the voting results of one of its AGMs for the benefit of those shareholders unable to attend the meeting in person. Earlier this month, Ryanair was the subject of a complaint by Manifest to the Irish Stock […]
Read MoreUnited Drug has followed the lead of DCC in proposing a vote on its remuneration report as a separate voting item at its upcoming AGM on 9 February. The notice of meeting acknowledges that there is no legal obligation on the company to put such a resolution to shareholders, so this is an ‘advisory’ resolution […]
Read MoreWith the AGM of Fairfax Media due to be held on 10 November, Fairfax directors John B Fairfax and his son Nicholas have released a public statement indicating that the will vote against the re-election of the Chairman, Ron Walker, at the AGM. This follows comments by Walker on Thursday in the Australian Financial Review […]
Read MoreA bizarre proxy fight at US life sciences company CNS Response Inc appears to hinge on the validity of a special meeting, writes Scott Fenn of ProxyGovernance. In one of the stranger US proxy contests witnessed in recent years, Leonard J. Brandt, the co-founder and former CEO of CNS is claiming victory in the election of […]
Read MorePress reports today suggest that Leo Kirch is likely to participate in mediation talks with Deutsche Bank in an effort to resolve his long-running dispute with the company. Earlier this week, the Landgericht in Frankfurt (a local court), found in Kirch’s favour, and the ruled that most of the decisions of the 2008 AGM are […]
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