Ukraine has adopted a long-awaited law which will improve the corporate governance of its joint stock companies (JSC) as well as the shareholder rights. Legal experts said that the changes will boost the prospects of foreign investment in Ukrainian companies as it will bring its corporate law more in line with the rest of Europe. The law became effective on […]

Read More

Minority shareholders in Accor, were disappointed when their resolution was not passed at its AGM (5th May) meaning double voting rights continue for large investors in the hotel chain. French social investment firm, Phitrust Partners, advised by corporate governance and proxy voting specialists Proxinvest, submitted the resolution – calling for the principle of “one share – one vote” […]

Read More
RBS ShareSoc shareholder committee

The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has refused to back down on a decision not to allow a shareholder resolution, calling on the bank to establish a shareholder committee. The resolution, to be proposed at RBS’ AGM later this year, was proposed by 168  shareholders last December and is being coordinated by the ShareSoc, the UK Individual Shareholders […]

Read More
Italian shareholder association formed

An Italian shareholder association has been formed to protect the group minority, with a particular focus on listed small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The Italian Association for the Exercise of Shareholders’ Rights, AIEDA, has been set up by a group of professionals, managers and entrepreneurs with the aim of promoting good corporate governance and facilitating dialogue between listed companies directors […]

Read More

JKX, the London-listed oil company has seen its entire board being replaced following years of questionable corporate governance and poor performance. Proxima Capital, JKX’s third largest shareholder managed to secure over two thirds of the votes cast at a special meeting of JKX shareholders held on Thursday with their proposals to replace most of the […]

Read More

Manifest has this week published a Global Regulatory Review, keeping customers abreast of the latest developments in corporate governance and related disciplines around the world.   Global capital markets and investors expectations towards them have changed radically over the past 20 years. Sir Adrian Cadbury could probably never have guessed what his dryly-titled “Report of the […]

Read More

Probably the most un-noticed consequence of the battle around the ill-fated Royal Bank of Scotland acquisition of ABN-AMRO has been the subsequent limitation of shareholders’ rights in the Netherlands. At the start of July a number of significant amendments Dutch company law were introduced which will make it significantly harder for shareholders to table their […]

Read More

Perhaps the two least surprising observations about last week’s local government elections in the UK were the weakness of the incumbent national government party vote, and the continued fall in turnout. If there’s one thing you can rely on, it’s that generally people don’t understand why local government is important to them and therefore don’t […]

Read More

Optimising the Means and Ends of Good Governance Manifest is proud to sponsor the 4th Cambridge International Regulation and Governance Conference on September 6th, at Queens College, Cambridge. In a timely intervention given recent consultations at national and supra-national level on both sides of the Atlantic touching on stewardship processes, the conference will address regulatory responses to aspects of the […]

Read More

French Company Law now has  a further measure which French companies can use to block dissident shareholders from using their influence at general meetings of shareholders. On 8 December 2010, the French President signed into law an an amendment to the Commercial Code, one part of which inserts three additional sections relating to voting at […]

Read More