Corporate Governance

NYSE to consider stricter listing rules, including a much higher hurdle for adopting stock option plans without shareholder approval.ISS Friday Report (9/24/99) contains analysis by Patrick McGurn of a provision which requires adoption of the standard by NASD for the rules to go into effect. McGurn elaborates on why this may be the “kiss of death.” Business […]

SEC considers expanding reporting requirements for financial relationships between board members and their chief executives. Revisions are being proposed by the Council of Institutional Investors. Personal, professional, and financial relationships during the previous five-year period would need to be disclosed. Family relationships would include those by blood, marriage, or adoption through first cousins. Financial ties […]

Company Secretary: The Official Publication of the Hong Kong Institute of Company Secretaries (May 1999) is largely devoted to the question of offshore incorporation. Should Hong Kong be worried? We might also add, should the U.S. or other jurisdictions be worried? Probably. Mark Sharp begins his article by noting a 43% increase in the number of […]

CalPERS approved a $200 million investment in theHermes UK Focus Fund which will acquire large stakes in a small number of undervalued publicly traded companies in the UK, using its influence as a large and active investor to affect financial and operational restructuring to increase value for all shareowners. (see CalPERS press releases) UK survey shows institutions ignored […]

ISS backs TIAA-CREF’s shareholder proposal to strike down Lubrizol Corp.’s (LZ) dead-hand poison pill. (Dow Jones newswires) Ed Durkin, director of special programs for the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, says labor might sponsor proposals to link executive pay to worker safety, job creation and the number of employees with health benefits. He […]

Jerry Adams is sure to stir controversy with his recent statement: “I personally do not think that the corporate governance movement and particularly the PERS program has had any positive impact on the retirement benefits of active and retired members of California retirement systems.” Mr. Adams recently retired from the California Legislative Counsel’s Office and was chief […]

Mark Latham, author of the “The Corporate Monitoring Firm” in Corporate Governance An International Review (UK, January 1999), and founder of the Corporate Monitoring Project; has developed a newsletter and is working toward shareholder resolutions to be introduced in the year 2000. His articles on this innovative system were published in five countries and four languages last year. Robert […]

OECD Corporate Governance Guidelines have been released in draft. They will not give detailed prescriptions for national legislation but rather delineate basic principles to serve as reference points for efforts to evaluate and improve each country’s regulatory framework. The guidelines cover five broad headings: the rights and responsibilities of shareholders; the role of stakeholders in […]

Barbara Hackman Franklin reviews 3 proactive processes to help audit committees prevent problems. Identify areas of potential risk with key players, hold regular executive sessions at each meeting with each of the key players separately, and report to the full board each meeting. (see Tone at the Top, 9/98) NACD’s “Report of the Blue Ribbon Commission on […]

G7 leaders to urge greater co-ordination in cross-border regulation of capital flows and to recommend a new code of conduct for open economies on financial disclosures and corporate governance, according to the the Financial Times. “It is likely to include support for a code of conduct for all open economies, requiring rules for disclosure of […]

IRRC released a new report, Executive Pay 1997, which shows that every element of CEO pay is on the rise, especially rewards due to optoin grants. The report provides a comprehensive study of compensation paid to the chief executives of S&P Super 1,500 companies as reported in 1997. Executive pay is sure to be one of the hotly debated […]

Patrick S. McGurn, with ISS, continues his excellent coverage of the options issue in the 8/21 edition of the ISS Friday Report. He points out that the proposed treatment of option repricings (see FASB below) is consistent with a 1972 accounting rule (APB Opinion 25) that distinguished between “fixed” option plans and “variable” plans. While fixed […]

Pensions&Investments, 7/27, editorial calls on the New York State Common Retirement Fund to drop out of the lead in the class action suit against Cedant. H. Carl McCall, sole trustee, as elected comptroller of New York state, apparently got a $40,000 political contribution from Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossman, the same firm handling the case. […]

Chainsaw Al gets sliced. He taught many to think like owners but his tactics crushed morale and his accounting practices reflected an emphasis on salesmanship rather than creating wealth. Press coverage has been widespread, including Time(6/29) and the St. Petersburg Times, (6/21). Efficient-market theory and a science-based investment strategy has provided the fundamental basis for the investment […]

Company Secretary: The Official Publication of the Hong Kong Institute of Company Secretaries (May 1999) is largely devoted to the question of offshore incorporation. Should Hong Kong be worried? We might also add, should the U.S. or other jurisdictions be worried? Probably. Mark Sharp begins his article by noting a 43% increase in the number of […]

April’s Director’s Monthly focuses on Mergers & Acquisitionsincluding Vice Chair Joseph G. Sponholz of Chase Manhattan reviewing their merger with Chemical Bank. Eileen Birge and Nicholas Vitalari of the Concours Group write on integrating information technology in M?. Also included is an extensive listing of upcoming NACD seminars around the country. AFL-CIO “10 Key Votes Survey” found 45 […]

Boardroom Basics are covered at the Online Business Women Center. Thanks to Ralph Ward for pointing us to this site. Graef Crystal presents this year’s CEO pay heroes — and one villain. Villain Sanford Weill of Travelers’ Group was awarded 20 different option grants covering over 12 million shares. If Weill manages only to deliver gains equal to […]

The Employee Ownership Report is critical of Edwin Welles’ assessment in 2/2/98 Inc. that only executives can “truly” affect a company’s performance, therefore broad option grants have little value. In “Deciding How Much Ownership is Enough,”NCEO notes that data from American Capital Strategies has shown firms with more than 10% broad employee ownership outperform the market. NCEO argues that giving […]

Clemente Global Growth Fund, CLM, has approved a proposal to allow shareholders to vote on converting fund to an open-end investment company in the Spring of the year 2000, if the Fund is trading at a discount in excess of 15% of NAV. The current discount is about 16%. Management also offered a proposal to tender […]

A study by Cotter, Shivdasani and Zenner, reported in the November issue of Directorship, found that returns to a target firm’s stockholders were 20% higher when their board was independent than when a majority of directors were insiders or outsiders with ties. The same issue also carries an article by Robert Heidrick on making director evaluations work. […]

On September 19, 1997 the SEC released its draft amendments to Rules on Shareholder Proposals [Rel. No. 34-39093; IC-22828; File No. S7-25-97]. Comments are accepted for 60 days. Amendment language is available online athttp://www.sec.gov/rules/proposed/34-39093.htm. Comments from Commissioner Wallman are also available. As expected, the rule would overturn the 1992 Cracker Barrel Old Country Store decision that the […]

On September 19, 1997 the SEC released its draft amendments to Rules on Shareholder Proposals [Rel. No. 34-39093; IC-22828; File No. S7-25-97]. Comments are accepted for 60 days. Amendment language is available online athttp://www.sec.gov/rules/proposed/34-39093.htm. Comments from Commissioner Wallman are also available. As expected, the rule would overturn the 1992 Cracker Barrel Old Country Store decision that the […]

Dr Mark Blair, of the Australian Stock Exchange, announced ASX is developing a guidance note for listed companies which will “add flesh to the bones and assist as new codes [of corporate governance] are developed”. (see Financial Review) August’s e-mailed Wharton Leadership Digest includes a list of corporate governance publications…added to their June list interested readers will now […]

Two press releases by CalPERS. One praised the actions of Japan’s Ministry of Finance for issuing severe penalties against Nomura Securities Co. for the company’s involvement with corporate extortionists, or “sokaiya.” The second expressed outrage at Governor Wilson’s inaccurate portrayal of negotiations that had been conducted to enable the state to stretch out a court-ordered $1.236 […]

A Proxy Process Forum, sponsored by ASCS, was held in New York city on June 20th. This was an opportunity to followup on the new fees which apply to mailings made during the 1997 proxy season as part of a one-year pilot program and to focus on multiple additional issues. In other ASCS news, they will be mailing out […]

Binding resolutions are a significant trend, according to Patrick McGurn, director of corporate programs at ISS in an article for Investor Business Relations. In January a federal judge ordered Fleming Companies to include a poison pill proposal, sponsored by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters on its ballot. If the ruling stands up in court it will set a […]

Average stockholder runs for board of BellSouth with backing of the Communications Workers of America. (seeAtlanta Business Chronicle) The Boston-based Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies (CERES) in 1996 filed a record of 43 shareholder resolutions with U.S. companies, including five in Massachusetts. That’s up from 16 resolutions filed nationwide in 1995. But shareholders shouldn’t expect […]

A recent survey by KPMG and the Australian Institute of Company Directors showed fewer than one in six directors had a total understanding of corporate governance. Less than a third of the directors were implementing corporate governance initiatives, although another 21% said they already had initiatives in place. 58% said they would be looking at increasing shareholder value, […]