Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou has used Easygroup’s, 12.6% stake in African no-frills airline, Fastjet, to call an extraordinary meeting (EGM) which seeks to remove its chief executive, Ed Winter, and its general counsel and company secretary, Krista Bates. The EGM resolutions seek Winter’s removal as a director as well as chief executive and for Bates to be removed as a […]
Read MoreIt’s being quite a few days for corporate governance. First, the unprecedented (at least since our records began in 1996) shock yesterday of Sir John Bond’s ejection as Chair of Glencore Xstrata, whilst in the same week, the PR chicanery currently being played out in the US ahead of JPMorgan’s AGM next week over the question of whether the Chair and Chief Executive […]
Read MoreA 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 or nomination) for at least two years. In his supporting statement, shareholder Gerald Armstrong (who is […]
Read MoreFrench SICAV Proxy Active Investors is crying foul over the high handed dismissal of its proposal to separate the chair and CEO roles at Société Générale. On April 7th 2010, PhiTrust, the managers of Proxy Active, and a group of international institutional shareholders filed a resolution requesting a statue change to split the roles. Although […]
Read MoreShell will be asked to justify its involvement in the controversial Tar Sands oil extraction project later this year following the involvement of 142 investors who have co-filed a shareholder resolution for the company’s AGM in May. The oil sands are the second largest oil resource in the world comprising some 173Bn barrels in reserves. Converting it […]
Read MoreNorges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), the investment arm of the Norwegian central bank and asset manager for the Norwegian Government Pension Fund and the Government Petroleum Insurance Fund managing over NOK1,000bn (£107bn) in equity investments, has filed shareholder proposals at four US companies calling for independent chairmanship. Meetings at Harris Corporation (23rd OCtober), Parker Hannifin (28th October), […]
Read MoreA shareholder resolution tabled at BP’s AGM calling for more financial, environmental and social information on the implications of extracting oil sands has managed to achieve 6% of votes in favour. Taking abstentions or votes positively witheld, the company was only able to achieve 85% support for its approach to this controversial exploration scheme. Over 140 institutional investors, including several […]
Read MoreFebruary’s Guest Article is by Louise Rouse, FairPensions’ Director of Investor Engagement and looks at their recent initiative to engage with leading oil producers about their oil sands projects The 2010 AGM season could herald both a new era of public accountability for companies and their investors and a template for future shareholder activism. Having […]
Read MoreThe LAPFF took their place in the governance history books today. Although they failed to come close to the super-majority needed to have their resolution calling for an independent chair passed, they have achieved a remarkable result. Taking into account the abstain votes, total dissent is practically double the highest previously recorded for a FTSE […]
Read More“He who dies with the most toys still dies” was a quote on the No Fear brand of T-shirts a few years ago. Funnily enough that saying came to mind when news of Amalgamated Bank’s shareholder proposals against “Golden Coffins” came out this week. For the uninitiated, a Golden Coffin, in exec comp terms, is […]
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