MSCI Inc. (MSCI) announced it has agreed to acquire GMI Ratings, a provider of ESG (environmental, social and governance) ratings and research to institutional investors, through its subsidiary MSCI ESG Research Inc. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter, subject to customary closing conditions. Said Remy Briand, Managing Director and Head of […]
Corporate Governance Publisher’s Note: Yes, you’ll find many broken links in the material referenced below. After 5, 10 and 15 years, the internet moves on. Many of the organization’s linked have since gone under. We’re just glad to still be here, offering our readers a sense of the history we have shared. More about the WABAC […]
There are good neighbors. Then there is Nabors Industries, Inc. Those were the opening sentences of another excellent editorial at Pensions & Investments (Test of Governance Wills, June 30). See their cartoon at right, which is very close to portraying the truth about Nabors. (P&I’s other outstanding recent editorial was Winning over proxy voters, May 12.) […]
Steris Corp $STE, which develops and markets surgical and critical care support products and services, is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their next annual meeting is July 30, 2014. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of no funds on Steris when I checked and voted on 6/17/2014. I voted with the Board’s recommendations 100% of the time. View Steris Proxy Statement. […]
Guest Post: Dr. E. James M. Gifford, a Senior Fellow at the Initiative for Responsible Investment by way of Annie Olszewski, Research Associate at Initiative for Responsible Investment at the Harvard Kennedy School. This article was originally posted in the Harvard Crimson on May 28, 2014. Last month, Harvard University joined more than a thousand other global investment institutions that have signed the UN-supported […]
Medivation $MDVN, a promising biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapies to treat serious diseases, is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their next annual meeting is June 27, 2014. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of one fund when I checked and voted on 6/17/2014. I voted with the Board’s recommendations 91% of the time and assigned them a proxy score […]
A Hong-Kong based venture capital fund has appointed artificial intelligence to its board of directors. Robot directors? Friday’s video is a fun response to this publicity stunt from governance expert Lucy Marcus. Aging Analytics has announced in a press release that the new algorithm they have licensed to a Hong Kong venture capital firm has been appointed to […]
Yesterday, I posted a recent letter to the editor of Pensions & Investments praising their editorial, Winning Over Proxy Voters, which argues that institutional investors have a fiduciary duty to announce their proxy votes in advance of annual meetings, if doing so is likely to influence voters. If institutional investors heed their call, it will speed […]
Below is an email I sent to Pensions & Investments (P&I) editorial chief Barry Burr praising their editorial enhancing fiduciary duty and opining on how it may speed the arrival of the time when retail investors will vote their values with the simple push of a button or two on their cell phones. I will follow […]
The following on shareholder rights by Timothy Smith, Director of ESG Shareowner Engagement at Walden Asset Management, originally appeared in the Summer 2014 Edition of Walden’s Values Newsletter, which included the usual disclaimer at the bottom. I’ve added the links and have tacked on some additional reformatted comments from Timothy Smith regarding the role of individual investors in prompting reform. […]
Yahoo! $YHOO, is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is June 25, 2014. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of one fund when I checked and voted on 6/13/2014. I voted with the Board’s recommendations 56% of the time. Thus I assigned Yahoo! a proxy score of 62. View Proxy Statement. Read Warnings below. What follows are my recommendations […]
Premiere Global Services, $PGI, is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is June 17, 2014. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of three funds when I checked and voted on 6/11/2014. I voted with the board’s recommendations 40% of the time, thus assigned a proxy score of 40. View Proxy Statement. Read Warnings below. What follows are my recommendations […]
CalPERS Senior Portfolio Manager and Director of Global Governance, Anne Simpson, discusses how environmental, social, and governance behaviors impact corporate performance and highlights recent Board policy statements concerning three forms of capital: financial, physical and human. Read the transcript on the CalPERS site. (more…)
DaVita HealthCare Partners $DVA, is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is June 17, 2014. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of three funds when I checked and voted on 6/10/2014. I voted with management 50% of the time. View Proxy Statement. Read Warnings below. What follows are my recommendations on how to vote the DVA proxy in order […]
SciClone Pharmaceuticals $SCLN, is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is June 12, 2014. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of one fund when I checked and voted on 6/10/2014. I voted with management 37% of the time. View Proxy Statement. Would it kill them to include a hyperlinked table of contents? Read Warnings below. What follows are my […]
Biogen Idec, $BIIB, is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is June 12, 2014. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of four funds when I checked and voted on 6/10/2014. ProxyDemocracy.org now has collected the votes of five funds. I voted with management 46% of the time. View Proxy Statement. Read Warnings below. What follows are my recommendations on how to […]
Caterpillar (CAT), is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is June 11, 2014 (tomorrow). ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of two funds when I checked and voted on 6/10/2014. I see they now have three. I voted with management 42% of the time. View Proxy Statement. Read Warnings below. What follows are my recommendations on how to vote the CAT […]
Guest Post by Adam M. Kanzer, managing director and general counsel of Domini Social Investments LLC, New York. His responsibilities include directing Domini’s shareholder advocacy department, where for more than ten years he has led numerous dialogues with corporations on a wide range of social and environmental issues. The following originally appeared under the same title in the […]
As voting results in California are tabulated, another type of voting that has caught the eye of investors—proxy voting. Sustainvest Asset Management, an independent investment advisory firm located in Petaluma, CA, received over 44,700,000 votes in favor of a shareholder proposal introduced to $37 Billion-dollar pharmaceutical company Actavis, Inc. (ACT). The shareholder proposal asked the […]
Netflix (NFLX), is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is June 9, 2014. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of three funds when I checked and voted on 6/4/2014. I voted with management 27% of the time. View Proxy Statement (why no linked Table of Contents?) Read Warnings below. What follows are my recommendations on how to vote the NFLX proxy in […]
Guest Post: Andrew Clearfield is an internationally-known investment manager, corporate governance expert, and independent corporate director. He founded Investment Initiatives LLC in 2005 to aid institutions engaging with portfolio companies, as well as coordinating their efforts with other concerned investors. Looking at a range of research reports, it seems conservative to say that at least half […]
CalPERS today announced that the System’s shareowner proposal at Nabors Industries $NBR recommending that the company change its proxy voting methodologies passed with the support of a majority of shares voted. CalPERS sought the changes to ensure equality and fairness in the manner in which Nabors counts votes cast on proxy proposals at its annual […]
I thought this recent correspondence was noteworthy. I’m so happy CII exists. I wish there were a similar organization representing the interests of retail shareowners. Most footnotes are removed and the letter is slightly edited for formatting. Original. Via Hand Delivery May 22, 2014 Keith F. Higgins Director (more…)
Wal-Mart Stores (WMT), is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is June 6, 2014. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of one fund when I checked and voted on 5/31/2014. I voted with management 58% of the time. View Proxy Statement. Read Warnings below. What follows are my recommendations on how to vote the WMT proxy in order to enhance […]