Hain Celestial Group Inc (HAIN) manufactures, markets, distributes, and sells organic and natural products in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Europe. Hain Celestial is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is on November 19, 2015. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of two funds when I checked. I also checked CalSTRS, since their […]
With John Chevedden‘s help, I recently submitted shareowner proposals to United Natural Foods Inc. (UNFI) and The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. (HAIN). Both have asked the SEC for no-action letters [UNFI (UNFI no-action 8-15-2014 pdf) and HAIN] because they plan to introduce their own proposals on the same subjects. The SEC is likely to grant both requests. Shouldn’t such actions […]
Last month, with the help of fellow ‘economy class investor’ John Chevedden, I submitted a proposal to Hain Celestial (HAIN) to adopt a full majority director election standard. Majority voting has become a widely prevalent practice in the S&P 500 index, with only 14% of companies failing to adopt this standard. Hain is in the […]
SEC Staff Legal Bulletin No. 14F (CF) finally addresses the issues of what is needed to evidence stock ownership for the purpose of filing a shareowner petition. It is obvious from first glance that shareowners whose broker or bank isn’t a DTC participant just got screwed. We will take the view going forward that, for […]
Today, the United States Proxy Exchange issued standards for documenting eligibility to submit shareowner proposals. Submitting shareowner proposals is a primary means by which shareowners influence the corporations they own. The process is governed by SEC Rule 14a-8. One provision of that rule—Rule 14a-8(b)(2)—specifies how sharewners prove they own shares in a corporation for the purpose […]
Looking through a few of the relatively recent no-action letters, I see the SEC continues to buy into substitute proposals at higher thresholds to call a special meeting than those proposed by shareowers. In the latest insult, a no-action letter was issued to Hain Celestial to deflect a proposal from Kenneth Steiner calling for a […]
It would appear that Apache v. Chevedden is now fading into oblivion. Two companies have sought no-action letters based Apache-inspired arguments. Both have failed. To briefly review: Susman Godfrey L.L.P. Wins First-of-Its-Kind Judgment for Apache Against Shareholder Activist, MSN Money, 3/12/10; Susman Godfrey L.L.P. Wins First-of-Its-Kind Judgment for Apache Against Shareholder Activist, Forbes, 3/12/10; Susman […]