ERISA Plan Fiduciaries’ Proxy Voting: Regulatory Updates
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis, the leading proxy voting advisory firms in the United States, have announced updates and clarifications for their voting guidelines for the U.S. market for the 2024...more
Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (“ISS”), a leading proxy advisory firm, uses a proprietary “Equity Plan Scorecard” approach to evaluate public company equity compensation plans. For 2023, ISS has updated its Equity...more
As we enter the 2023 proxy season, there are a number of new regulatory requirements, both technical and substantive, that have been implemented, and many more on the horizon. For example, many companies will need to comply...more
Our Securities Group examines how the Securities and Exchange Commission has rescinded a pair of Trump Administration rules that affected proxy advisory firms’ ability to deliver timely advice to their clients....more
Institutional investors and proxy advisory firms continue developing and refining their policies regarding board diversity. While gender diversity on public company boards has been in focus for some time now, institutional...more
Takeaways - Independence is neither a fixed condition nor a universal status for all purposes. Events and relationships can disqualify an otherwise independent director from participating in decisions.. No matter how pure a...more
In the past few weeks, both major proxy advisory firms, Institutional Shareholder Services ("ISS") and Glass Lewis & Co. LLC ("Glass Lewis"), have issued their updated proxy voting guidelines for the 2022 proxy season. These...more
At an open meeting yesterday, the SEC took up two rulemakings aimed at shareholder voting. First, the SEC voted four to one (a bipartisan if not unanimous vote) to adopt amendments to the proxy rules—initially proposed in...more
Today, shareholders are increasingly demanding corporate accountability on a variety of issues, ranging from compensation and human capital management to governance and board diversity, among others. As a result, most...more
Institutional investors and proxy advisory firms continue to develop and refine their policies regarding board diversity. While gender diversity on public company boards has been in focus for some time now, institutional...more
À l’approche de la prochaine période de sollicitation de procurations, les émetteurs sont invités à se familiariser avec les lignes directrices canadiennes en matière de vote par procuration respectives d’Institutional...more
In preparation for the upcoming proxy season, issuers should familiarize themselves with the Canadian proxy voting guidelines recently published by Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (ISS) and Glass Lewis & Co. (Glass...more
On 4 September 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published a new proposed rule on “Fiduciary Duties Regarding Proxy Voting and Shareholder Rights” (the Proposal)....more
The Securities and Exchange Commission on September 23, 2020, adopted final amendments to Rule 14a-8, which governs the process for shareholder proposals submitted for inclusion in a company’s proxy statement. The amendments...more
Shareholder rights plans, commonly known as “poison pills,” are arrangements that can be used by companies to stave off hostile takeovers or activist investors seeking to exert control over a company without paying a control...more
The nation’s largest shareholder advisory firm, Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (“ISS”), recently filed suit against the SEC over new guidelines meant to give investors more transparency into how proxy advisory firms...more
Despite political and economic uncertainties, markets and deal activity were resilient in 2019, and strong fundamentals remain in place heading into 2020. Companies continue to face a challenging litigation and enforcement...more
Institutional Shareholder Services ("ISS") and Glass, Lewis & Co ("Glass Lewis") have both released their updates to their respective Canadian proxy voting guidelines for the 2020 proxy season. The ISS updates apply to...more
On November 5, 2019, the SEC issued a release proposing amendments to the federal proxy rules that are intended to enhance the accuracy and transparency of information provided by proxy advisory firms to investors and...more
The Situation: As part of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's ("SEC") continued focus on reforming the proxy process, the SEC proposed new amendments to modernize the shareholder proposal rule, Rule 14a-8 of the...more
New Rules, Proposed Rules, Guidance and Alerts - PROPOSED RULES – SEC Proposes Rule Changes for Proxy Advisory Firms – On November 5, 2019, the SEC issued a release proposing amendments to the federal proxy rules...more
On November 5, 2019, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) proposed two sets of rule amendments that, if adopted, would play a prominent role in guiding the manner in which companies, shareholders, and proxy...more
This newsletter discusses noteworthy updates, key regulatory decisions and upcoming compliance reminders. In this edition, we review: ...SEC Changes Approach to Shareholder Proposal No-Action Requests ...SEC Issues...more
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently issued guidance on the applicability of certain U.S. proxy rules to voting advice given by proxy advisory firms, such as ISS and Glass Lewis. This initiative...more