“Stewardship in AQTION” Featured by the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance

The latest “Stewardship in AQTION” study, which leverages AQTION’s proprietary database, has been featured by the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance. The specific article presents key findings from this study, including:

• Stewardship Teams: Structures necessary for stewardship, such as dedicated teams and voting policies, are now mature in development. Regulatory turbulence may lead to more cautious and less transparent engagements, leaving companies to rely more heavily on their public positions and voting behaviour to understand their position.
• Proxy Advisors: While proxy advisors remain influential, they are not heavily relied upon. Only 9 of the Top 65 show “High” reliance on their chosen Proxy Advisor’s recommendations, while 35 investors demonstrate “Low” reliance. ISS highlights that ~91% of the total voted shares processed by ISS on behalf of their clients are linked to clients’ custom voting policies.
• Shareholder Activism: 39 of the Top 65 investors incorporate criteria for evaluating activism situations. Notably, 29 investors have recently disclosed concerns about portfolio company performance or governance in case studies and stewardship reports.
• Investors’ Voting Scorecard: European asset managers appear more comfortable challenging management through their votes, while U.S. investors show a marked hesitance to do so.

We hope readers enjoy the post. The full article is available here.