Shareholder proposal rule
Only a short time has elapsed since President Trump named Mark T. Uyeda as Acting Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) on January 21, 2025. Already, however, the regulatory climate has shifted significantly...more
This article from Morningstar published on the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance examines three major trends of the 2024 proxy season regarding environmental, social and governance shareholder proposals. The...more
The Number of Shareholder Proposals Made by Activist Shareholders, Votes Against Management Proposals and Listed Companies Facing Shareholder Proposals Each Continue to Trend Upward in Japan - During the June 2023 annual...more
In late July 2023, House Republicans on the Financial Services Committee introduced four bills targeting various business and market activities that implicate environmental, social, and governance issues. In a statement...more
Notwithstanding legislative and executive action by several states in opposition to the supposed “woke” stances of some businesses on ESG and ESG investing—or perhaps because of it—this proxy season will see a significant...more
The number of shareholder proposals put forward in 2022 increased by roughly 9% over 2021. At the same time, however, the number of shareholder proposals put forward by hedge funds and dedicated activists went up by only 1%....more
Institutional Shareholder Services ("ISS") and Glass Lewis & Co. LLC ("Glass Lewis"), the two major proxy advisory firms, recently issued their updated proxy voting guidelines for the 2023 proxy season. These policy updates...more
On November 15, 2022, Skadden held a webinar titled “Preparing for the 2023 Shareholder Proposal Season.” The panelists were Gianna McCarthy, Director of Corporate Governance for the New York State Common Retirement Fund (NYS...more
Takeaways - ESG activist campaigners are likely to continue asserting themselves. Companies that have merged with SPACs and whose stock prices have slumped will be at risk for activist pressure. Watch for more activist...more
REGULATORY UPDATES - SEC Leadership Changes - On April 17, 2021, Gary Gensler was sworn into office as the Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). Gensler served as chair of the U.S. Commodity Futures...more
Strong ESG credentials and long-term plans to improve their relationship with society and the environment are increasingly important to ensure companies’ access to capital. Environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters...more
While balance sheet proposals saw a slight downturn, COVID-19 and FEFTA appear not to have dampened shareholders' desire to effect change via AGM proposals....more