Shareholder representatives are protesting the growing number of Canadian companies that are passing U.S.-style bylaws to make their home province the only jurisdiction where investors can sue in certain types of cases.
The University of the West Indies today announced six leaders of Canadian and Caribbean origin, and one organization, to be honoured at the seventh annual Toronto Benefit Gala, on Saturday, April 2, 2016, at The Ritz-Carlton.
Subsequent to a sweetened offer, and multiple adjourned meetings, Towers Watson shareholders approved its $18 billion merger with Willis Group at its December 11, 2015 meeting.
After two adjournments and a revised offer to Towers shareholders—sweetening the special dividend from the original $4.87 per share to $10.00 per share without changing the exchange ratio—shareholders are left wondering whether or not the Towers-Willis merger can be consummated.
Glass, Lewis & Co., LLC has recently released its 2016 Benchmark Guidelines for the Canadian market as part of their annual formal update process.
While not explicitly stated, based on prior experience, these guidelines will be applied for shareholder meetings held beginning in 2016 unless otherwise noted.
Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (ISS) today released their 2016 Benchmark Policy Updates, following the Benchmark Policy Consultation period announced previously. These voting policies will be applied for shareholder meetings taking place on or after February 1st, 2016.
#42 - Wes Hall: “Activism is a new asset class,” Wes Hall has been known to say. He’s one of the primary beneficiaries of that trend. Hall’s firm has helped some of the business world’s highest-profile companies and activists through raucous shareholder disputes, even representing Pershing Square Capital in its epic battle to install Hunter Harrison at CP.
On November 13, 2016, Glass, Lewis & co., LLC (“Glass Lewis”) released their 2016 Benchmark Guidelines for the U.S. market as part of their annual formal update process.
While not explicitly stated, based on prior experience, these guidelines will be applied for shareholder meetings held beginning in 2016 unless otherwise noted.
According to rules introduced by the Toronto Stock Exchange, when a company director fails to receive a majority of votes from shareholders he or she is expected to resign. But new data suggests that the process hasn’t been as successful as anticipated.
Two-thirds of corporate directors who failed to win majority support for reelection this year have remained in their jobs, despite policies requiring directors to tender their resignations when they lose votes. A review of 2015 voting trends by Kingsdale Shareholder Services shows 21 directors of Toronto Stock Exchange-listed companies received less than 50 per cent support from shareholders in board elections this year.
A few months ago, American chemical giant DuPont defeated Trian Partners in a proxy fight to replace four directors even though the major proxy advisors (ISS and Glass Lewis) supported the activist. Over the next week, we will be watching to see whether the $18 billion merger of equals between global professional services provider Towers Watson and multi-national insurance broker Willis Group will be approved when the proxy advisors are again aligned with an activist.
According to the latest SEC legal bulletin posted yesterday, public companies in the U.S. Will no longer be able to exclude a shareholder proposal under Rule 14a-8(I)(9) (Conflicting Proposals Exclusion) by proposing a competing but not directly conflicting management proposal.
‘You ain’t seen nothing yet’ is not only the name of a popular Bachman Turner Overdrive song, it’s also a prediction of what’s to come in the world of proxy contests.
Canadian proxy solicitation firm Kingsdale Shareholder Services still plans to expand in the United States after merger and acquisition talks with rivals there failed to produce a deal, its top executive said Monday.
Kingsdale’s annual report details the most noteworthy developments of the 2015 proxy season, anticipated developments in the upcoming proxy season, and recommendations of how best to handle what’s to come.
Kingsdale Shareholder Services today released its annual 2015 Proxy Season Review, a report designed to equip public companies, boards and advisors to face the next wave of shareholder activism in Canada and effectively manage the upcoming 2016 proxy season.
Kingsdale Employees dusted off their ping pong paddles and played hard to raise money for a great cause! Although we didn’t win, everyone had fun. Thank you to everyone who supported this important initiative.
Improving communication with shareholders viewed as key to securing higher say on pay support and combating investor activist gains.
The increase of shareholder activism coupled with traditional investors more willing to voice their concerns at shareholder votes is having a significant effect on Canadian issuers.
Kingsdale Shareholder Services, the country’s largest such firm, has formed a strategic partnership with ISS Corporate Solutions, a unit of ISS Inc., a proxy advisory firm.
In this issue you’ll find out more about our US expansion, the inside scoop on our 2015 Governance Summit, what’s hot this proxy season, the latest proxy advisor updates, and much more.
NEW YORK - This past October Starboard Value founder Jeffrey Smith scored a landslide victory at restaurant chain owner Darden Restaurants. Key to that bitterly fought proxy fight was not only persuading institutional investors to back Starboard's board nominees, but also winning the support the retail investors who represented fully one-third of Darden's investor base.
Canadian proxy solicitation firm Kingsdale Shareholder Services has announces that it will open a new office in New York in March, marking its expansion into the US and part of the company’s plans to move further afield in the next few years.
On Monday Kingsdale named Joseph Spedale as president of its U.S. unit. Most recently, Spedale was Executive Vice President, Head of Sales and Business Development at Georgeson Inc. He has been in the business that covers governance advisory and proxy analytic services for about four decades. Spedale will now be charged with building a team in the U.S.
Canadian proxy solicitation firm Kingsdale shareholder Services will expand into the highly competitive U.S. market by opening a New York office next month and could bolster the move with acquisitions, its chief executive said on Tuesday.
Less than one week remains for S&P/TSX Composite Index companies to update their corporate contact information on file with Institutional Shareholder Services Inc.
There is a crowd of well-armed shareholder activists forming outside the doors of Canada’s corporate boardrooms and on the other side far too much navel-gazing and hand-wringing.
Activist investors have been Outgunning Directors on the boards of Canadian companies according to Wes Hall, CEO and Founder of Kingsdale. Wes says shareholder activism is entering a renaissance period, proxy fights are at elevated levels, and boards have been slow to adapt.
Proxy advisory firm Glass Lewis & Co. Released an updated version of its benchmark guidelines, following its initial release on November 5, 2014.
