Press Releases
- 2013
- Jeffrey Thompson Named Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Glass Lewis
January 29th, 2013 - 2012
- CGI Glass Lewis CAMAC Submission (The AGM and Shareholder Engagement – Discussion Paper)
December 21st, 2012 - Glass Lewis Discussion Paper – An Overview of the Proxy Advisory Industry. Considerations on Possible Policy Options.
December 5th, 2012 - Glass Lewis Response to “Canadian Securities Administrators Consultation Paper 25-401: Potential Regulation of Proxy Advisory Firms”
September 20th, 2012 - IW Financial, Glass Lewis Expand Partnership
July 31st, 2012Governance research from Glass Lewis to be integrated with IW Financial’s sustainability research to provide robust picture of corporate sustainability
PORTLAND, Maine (July 31, 2012) — IW Financial and Glass Lewis & Co. today announced an expansion of their partnership that will, for the first time, incorporate governance data from Glass Lewis’ analyses into IW Financial’s product offerings.
“We’re pleased to have Glass Lewis governance data as part of our solution set,” said Sam Pierce, President & CEO of IW Financial. “Our clients want to be able to compare companies on an apples-to-apples basis across the full range of ESG issues. Incorporating Glass Lewis data will make this not only possible for our clients, but easy.”
IW Financial will offer Glass Lewis governance data in combination with its own research via its Workstation platform and through its data feeds.
“IW Financial has been a long-term partner, so providing them with governance data was a logical move,” said Robert McCormick, Glass Lewis’ Chief Policy Officer. “We haven’t historically distributed our data, but it is becoming increasingly clear that investors are beginning to look at environmental, social and governance factors in a coordinated fashion. Putting our governance data together with IW Financial’s sustainability research is a great way to ensure that investors have access to that coordinated information.”
The expansion of the partnership between Glass Lewis and IW Financial comes a critical time, as a growing number of investors are beginning to realize the financial implications of companies’ environmental, social and governance performance and are looking for a reliable source for associated research.
About IW Financial
Established in 2001, IW Financial is a leading provider of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) research, analytics, and consulting services. IW Financial’s solutions help institutional investors and asset managers develop policies, comply with guidelines and mandates, identify ESG risks and opportunities, and engage with companies.
For more information on IW Financial, visit www.iwfinancial.com.About Glass Lewis
Glass, Lewis & Co. is a leading investment research and global proxy advisory and voting services firm, serving institutions that collectively manage more than $15 trillion. Glass Lewis helps institutional investors make more informed investment and proxy voting decisions by identifying business, legal, governance and financial statement risk at more than 23,000 meetings worldwide. Founded in 2003, Glass Lewis is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New York, Washington D.C., Ireland and Australia.
For more information on Glass Lewis, visit www.glasslewis.com. - Proxy Talk: Enhancements to Glass Lewis’ Proprietary Pay-for-Performance Model
July 12th, 2012On Thursday, July 12 @ 2 PM EDT, Glass Lewis hosted a Proxy Talk discussing enhancements to Glass Lewis’ proprietary Pay-for-Performance model. We will discuss changes in our peer group selection process, specifically the use of peers derived by Equilar, Inc. Glass Lewis will explain how the new Pay-for-Performance model will be used as part of our research and analysis to make proxy voting recommendations on say on pay proposals.
- Letter to the SEC from Glass Lewis CEO KT Rabin
June 8th, 2012 - Glass Lewis Responds to Assertions Made by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
June 1st, 2012Glass Lewis holds itself to the highest standards of transparency and independence
San Francisco (June 1, 2012) – On May 30, 2012, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness (“CCMC”) sent a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) questioning whether the vote recommendations issued by Glass, Lewis & Co. for the 2012 Canadian Pacific Railway Limited (“CP”) contested meeting were independent from the influence of its parent, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (“OTPP”).
Glass Lewis refutes the assertions made by the Chamber of Commerce and CCMC in their letter to the SEC.
Glass Lewis is a leading, independent, governance analysis and proxy voting firm, serving institutional investors globally that collectively manage more than $15 trillion in assets. With research focused on the long-term impact of proxy voting decisions, Glass Lewis provides institutional investors with the research, data and tools that help them make sound voting decisions by uncovering and assessing governance, business, legal, political and accounting risks at public companies worldwide.
Since 2007, Glass Lewis has been a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (“OTPP”), which, as a fiduciary, manages $117 billion (Canadian) on behalf of 300,000 current and retired teachers in Ontario. OTPP is the owner of Glass Lewis, not its operator; and as an owner with a long-term horizon, OTPP is committed to ensuring Glass Lewis continues as an independent advisor that puts the interests of its clients ahead of all others.
Glass Lewis prides itself on avoiding conflicts of interest to the maximum extent possible and, as a result, does not enter into business relationships that conflict with its mission of serving institutional participants in the capital markets with objective advice and services.
- Glass Lewis does not offer consulting services to public corporations or directors.
- Glass Lewis takes precautions to ensure its research is objective at all times and under all circumstances.
- Glass Lewis maintains policies and procedures to ensure its independence from OTPP.
- Glass Lewis has an independent Research Advisory Council to inform Glass Lewis and its clients on emerging trends and issues of importance to institutional investors.
- Glass Lewis maintains robust and transparent conflict avoidance safeguards to eliminate and disclose potential conflicts.
Additionally, Glass Lewis makes full disclosure of potential conflicts to its customers by specifically describing the nature of any relationship that potentially creates a conflict in a note on the cover of the relevant research report. In the case of the May 17, 2012 Canadian Pacific Railway Limited (“CP”) meeting, the following disclosure was featured on the front of its report:
“It is Glass Lewis’ policy to make full disclosure to its customers in instances where Glass Lewis provides coverage on a company in which Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board (“OTPP”), Glass Lewis’ ultimate parent, holds a stake significant enough to have publicly announced its ownership in accordance with the local market’s regulatory requirements or Glass Lewis becomes aware of OTPP’s disclosure to the public of its ownership stake in such company, through OTPP’s published annual report or any other publicly available information as disclosed by OTPP.
In accordance with such policy, please be advised that OTPP held an ownership stake in the Company as at December 31, 2011. OTPP is not involved in the day-to-day management of Glass Lewis. Glass Lewis operates and will continue to operate as an independent company separate from OTPP. The proxy voting and related corporate governance policies of Glass Lewis are separate from OTPP. OTPP is not a member of Glass Lewis’ Research Advisory Council.
For a complete copy of Glass Lewis’ Conflict of Interest Statement, please visit http://www.glasslewis.com/company/disclosure.php.”
In its letter to the SEC, CCMC asserts that the timing of the Glass Lewis report publication, subsequent to the announcement by OTPP of its vote decisions on the CP meeting, is indicative that Glass Lewis’ recommendations were somehow influenced by OTPP’s vote decision. In fact, OTPP’s votes and Glass Lewis’ recommendations were not the same. The CCMC is simply wrong when it suggests that Glass Lewis was improperly influenced in formulating its voting recommendations.
In general, Glass Lewis publishes its reports on annual general meetings at U.S. and Canadian companies about three weeks prior to meeting date. However, in the case of proxy contests, where the situation is more fluid due to potential negotiations and additional disclosure by both parties, Glass Lewis often publishes its reports close to the meeting date – balancing the need to give clients sufficient time to review and digest the analysis, with ensuring its clients have complete, up-to-date analysis to support their informed decision-making. Often companies make concessions in the face of potentially losing a proxy contest as the meeting date approaches, which was the case at CP. Furthermore, Glass Lewis’ publication date was dictated by the timing of its meetings with both the dissident and the Company and the completion of its analysis.
Glass Lewis finalized and published its report on the same day it completed separate meetings with representatives of the dissident shareholder and the Company. Glass Lewis’ recommendations for the CP meeting were derived based on its own methodologies for analyzing contested meetings and differed significantly from the votes issued by OTPP. While OTPP voted against all of the incumbent directors, Glass Lewis recommended supporting seven of the Company nominees.
To further highlight the independence of Glass Lewis’ analysis, there have been several instances where Glass Lewis’ recommendations have differed from the votes cast by OTPP, most notably:
- The 2011 offer by the London Stock Exchange (LSE: LSE) to acquire the TMX Group Inc. (TSX: X), which owns and operates the Toronto Stock Exchange and TSX Venture Exchange.
- The reelection of the chairman and deputy chairman at Vodafone (LSE: VOD) in 2010.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the CCMC also assert there is a lack of transparency regarding the process proxy advisory firms use to make vote recommendations. To the contrary, Glass Lewis conforms to the highest standard of transparency. Glass Lewis’ public website (www.glasslewis.com) features a section specifically devoted to companies, called the Issuer Engagement Portal, through which issuers can download in-depth information regarding Glass Lewis’ policies and procedures, including details on how Glass Lewis analyze directors, compensation, mergers and acquisitions and contested meetings, among other issues. This information is available by clicking on “Issuers” in the top navigation. Glass Lewis’ Conflict of Interest Statement is also available on its site at http://www.glasslewis.com/about-glass-lewis/disclosure-of-conflict/ and its Conflict Avoidance Procedures are available upon request.
For more information on Glass, Lewis & Co., please contact:
Jaron Schneider, (415) 738-4115, jschneider@glasslewis.com; www.glasslewis.comAbout Glass, Lewis & Co., LLC
Glass, Lewis & Co., LLC is a leading independent governance services firm, serving institutional investors worldwide that collectively manage more than $15 trillion in assets. Glass Lewis supports the creation and preservation of long-term shareholder value through high-quality, objective analysis of governance, finance, accounting, legal, political and regulatory risks at tens of thousands of public companies across the globe, and provides leading-edge vote management technology and diligent client service. Founded in 2003, Glass Lewis is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New York, Washington, D.C., Ireland and Australia.##
- Proxy Talk: AOL Proxy Contest with Management and Directors
May 31st, 2012On Thursday, May 31 at 3:00 p.m. ET, Glass Lewis held a Proxy Talk conference call with AOL Inc. AOL believes that the incumbent board has the strength, diversity, experience and qualifications to provide effective and independent oversight and direction to the Company and that the loss of its directors would be harmful to the Company. The AOL Inc. annual meeting is June 14, 2012.
DESCRIPTION:
Starboard is seeking to convince fellow shareholders to remove three out of eight AOL directors who are up for election at this year’s annual meeting, Mr. Alberto Ibargüen, Ms. Patricia Mitchell, and Mr. James Stengel. In their place, Starboard has proposed electing its co-founder and CEO, Jeffrey Smith as well as two other nominees: Mr. Dennis Miller, and Mr. James Warner.
AOL believes the dissident slate does not have a long-term strategy or relevant industry experience. AOL’s representatives will explain why in their view the current board and management have the right strategy to maximize shareholder value and why they feel removing any of the incumbent directors from the board would put AOL’s future at risk.
Glass Lewis will ask representatives from AOL about their plans for the company if the incumbent directors are re-elected and why they feel they do not need new directors on the board.
To listen to a recording of this talk, click here.
- Proxy Talk: AOL Inc. Proxy Contest with Shareholder Starboard Value LP
May 31st, 2012On Thursday, May 31 at 12:00 p.m. EST, Glass Lewis held a Proxy Talk conference call with AOL Inc. shareholder and dissident director nominee Jeffrey C. Smith, co-Founder and CEO of Starboard Value LP. Mr. Smith would like to replace three of AOL’s current directors with himself, Dennis A. Miller, and James A. Warner. Starboard currently owns approximately 5.3% of the AOL’s common stock. The AOL Inc. annual meeting is June 14, 2012.
DESCRIPTION:
Starboard is seeking to convince fellow shareholders to remove three out of eight AOL directors who are up for election at this year’s annual meeting, Mr. Alberto Ibargüen, Ms. Patricia Mitchell, and Mr. James Stengel. In their place, Starboard has proposed electing its co-founder and CEO, Jeffrey Smith as well as two other nominees: Mr. Dennis Miller, and Mr. James Warner.
Starboard believes AOL is deeply undervalued and that the current board has not taken the necessary steps to adequately address the serious issues facing the Company. Starboard believes the dissident nominees would bring significant and relevant experience, new insight and fresh perspectives to the AOL board. On the call, Glass Lewis will ask representatives of Starboard about their solicitation and their plans for the company if their nominees are elected.
To download a recording of this Proxy Talk, click here.
- Proxy Talk: Amalgamated Bank Discusses Exclusive Forum Shareholder Proposal at Chevron
May 17th, 2012On Thursday, May 17, 2012 at 4 PM EST, Glass Lewis hosted a Proxy Talk conference call to discuss a shareholder proposal seeking to repeal Chevron Corporation’s exclusive forum bylaw which generally requires shareholders to bring certain types of legal actions only in Delaware. Representatives of Amalgamated Bank’s LongView Funds air their concerns about the exclusive forum bylaw and why they think shareholders should vote in favor of their shareholder proposal to repeal it.
DESCRIPTION:
In September 30, 2010, Chevron adopted a bylaw requiring that unless the Company consents in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will be the sole and exclusive forum for certain legal actions. Amalgamated Bank’s LongView Funds have filed a shareholder proposal seeking to repeal the bylaw. The Company notes that the bylaw was amended in 2012 to adopt new protective provisions as a result of discussions with Amalgamated Bank.
Amalgamated believes the bylaw deprives Chevron investors of their statutory right to choose the forum in which to bring a suit to seek recourse for corporate malfeasance. It also believes the bylaw, despite the amendment, is overbroad because it covers investor suits where no need for this legal restriction has been demonstrated.
Chevron cites many reasons for adopting the bylaw including the Company’s incorporation in Delaware, that Delaware law governs the relationships among the Company’s directors, officers and its shareholders and that Delaware courts have special expertise in deciding issues of Delaware law. Further, Chevron notes that companies are facing multiple, virtually identical lawsuits in multiple states and bear the risk of inconsistent rulings as well as increased litigation costs.
Glass Lewis will ask Amalgamated’s representatives about the bylaw, why they believe it diminishes shareholder protections and why they believe shareholders should support the repeal of the bylaw. The Chevron annual meeting is May 30, 2012.
Download a recording of this Proxy Talk by clicking here.
- Proxy Talk: Chevron Discusses Exclusive Forum Shareholder Proposal
May 17th, 2012On Thursday, May 17, 2012 at 3 PM EST, Glass Lewis held a Proxy Talk conference call to discuss a shareholder proposal seeking to repeal Chevron Corporation’s exclusive forum bylaw which generally requires shareholders to bring certain types of legal actions only in Delaware. We heard from representatives of Chevron regarding the purpose and benefits of the exclusive forum bylaw and why they think shareholders should vote against the shareholder proposal.
DESCRIPTION:
In September 30, 2010, Chevron adopted a bylaw requiring that unless the Company consents in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will be the sole and exclusive forum for certain legal actions. Amalgamated Bank’s LongView Funds have filed a shareholder proposal seeking to repeal the bylaw. The Company notes that the bylaw was amended in 2012 to adopt new protective provisions as a result of discussions with Amalgamated Bank.
Amalgamated believes the bylaw deprives Chevron investors of their statutory right to choose the forum in which to bring a suit to seek recourse for corporate malfeasance. It also believes the bylaw, despite the amendment, is overbroad because it covers investor suits where no need for this legal restriction has been demonstrated.
Chevron cites many reasons for adopting the bylaw including the Company’s incorporation in Delaware, that Delaware law governs the relationships among the Company’s directors, officers and its shareholders and that Delaware courts have special expertise in deciding issues of Delaware law. Further, Chevron notes that companies are facing multiple, virtually identical lawsuits in multiple states and bear the risk of inconsistent rulings as well as increased litigation costs.
Glass Lewis will ask the company representatives about the bylaw, why they believe it prevents economic harm to shareholders associated with defending duplicative legislation and why they believe shareholders should vote against shareholder proposal. The Chevron annual meeting is May 30, 2012.
To download a recording of this Proxy Talk, click here.
- Proxy Talk: Viscofan Discusses Shareholder Proposals at AGM
May 14th, 2012On Monday, May 14, 2012 at 11:30 EDT (US)/5:30 PM CET Glass Lewis held a Proxy Talk conference call to discuss Viscofan’s upcoming AGM, specifically shareholder proposals seeking to amend the company’s bylaws with respect to Viscofan’s dividend policy, board composition and remuneration. Representatives of Viscofan provided their perspective on the company and discussed why they believe shareholders should vote against these shareholder proposals.
DESCRIPTION:
“A shareholder of Viscofan, Governance for Owners, intends to put forward five shareholder proposals at the upcoming Viscofan AGM, to be held on May 23, 2012.
(i) Introduction of a progressive dividend policy.Governance for Owners will request that the company increases its dividend progressively (from the current 46% to 55% in 2013 and 65% in 2014). Governance for Owners believes Viscofan is a highly generative cash business and its strong balance sheet and future cash flow generation allow the Company ample scope for higher dividends pay-out.
(ii) Adoption of Recommendation 29 of the Spanish Code of Corporate Governance. Governance for Owners will request that Viscofan adopt Recommendation 29, that independent directors should not hold such a position for more than 12 years, in its Articles of Association.
(iii) Adoption of fixed fees for non-executive directors. Governance for Owners will request that non-executive directors receive fixed fees, together with attendance fees, instead of performance-related remuneration.
(iv)Eliminatefees fordirectors dominicales(“shareholder representatives”). Governance for Owners will request that directors dominicales be exempt from receiving fees since they would otherwise be doubly remunerated: first, via dividends, and subsequently via the said fees.
(v) Adoption of a three-level executive remuneration. Governance for Owners will request that remuneration for executives be comprised of fixed pay, variable short-term remuneration and variable long-term performance remuneration, as currently executive directors do not have any incentive schemes in place.
Viscofan recommends that shareholders vote against all of the shareholder proposals which they consider to be unjustified in their purpose, inadequate in their intention and legally confusing. Glass Lewis will ask Viscofan about the concerns raised in the shareholder proposals and why they believe shareholders should vote against them.”
To download the presentation that accompanies this talk, click here.
To download a recording of this talk, click here.
- Proxy Talk: Hermes and VIP Discuss Counterproposals at Deutsche Bank
May 3rd, 2012On Thursday May 3, Glass Lewis held a conference call to discuss counterproposals filed by Hermes and VIP (Vereinigung Institutionelle Privatanleger) at Deutsche Bank against the discharge of the supervisory board. Representatives of Hermes and VIP will provide their perspective on the performance of Deutsche Bank’s supervisory board and discuss why they think shareholders should not approve the discharge of the supervisory board’s acts.
Hermes, a shareholder owning .5% of Deutsche Bank, and VIP, an institutional shareholder association, are requesting that shareholders not ratify the acts of Deutsche Bank’s supervisory board for the 2011 financial year. The main areas of concern are (i) a deficient succession planning process for Dr. Ackermann, the outgoing CEO, including apparent breaches of the duty of confidentiality; (ii) the failed nomination of Dr. Ackermann for election to the supervisory board; (iii) failure to take account of significant investor concerns about management board remuneration; (iv) insufficient alignment of the company culture and strategy with the principle of sustainability; and (vi) failure of the supervisory board to show leadership expected for the company.
To listen to a recording of this talk (WAV format), click here.
- Proxy Talk: Governance For Owners Discuss Shareholder Proposals at Viscofan
May 2nd, 2012On Wednesday May 2, 2012, Governance for Owners, a shareholder owning 5% of Viscofan’s share capital, discussed its intention to put forward five shareholder proposals at the upcoming Viscofan AGM, to be held on May 23, 2012.
(i) Introduction of a progressive dividend policy. Governance for Owners will request that the company increases its dividend progressively (from the current 46% to 55% in 2013 and 65% in 2014). Governance for Owners believes Viscofan is a highly generative cash business and its strong balance sheet and future cash flow generation allow the Company ample scope for higher dividends pay-out.
(ii) Adoption of Recommendation 29 of the Spanish Code of Corporate Governance. Governance for Owners will request that Viscofan adopt Recommendation 29, that independent directors should not hold such a position for more than 12 years, in its Articles of Association.
(iii) Adoption of fixed fees for non-executive directors. Governance for Owners will request that non-executive directors receive fixed fees, together with attendance fees, instead of performance-related remuneration.
(iv) Eliminate fees for directors dominicales (“shareholder representatives”). Governance for Owners will request that directors dominicales be exempt from receiving fees since they would otherwise be doubly remunerated: first, via dividends, and subsequently via the said fees.
(v) Adoption of a three-level executive remuneration. Governance for Owners will request that remuneration for executives be comprised of fixed pay, variable short-term remuneration and variable long-term performance remuneration, as currently executive directors do not have any incentive schemes in place.To listen to a recording of this talk (WAV format), click here.
To download the presentation that accompanies this talk, click here. UPDATED 05/16 - Proxy Talk: Norges Bank Discusses Proxy Access Proposals
April 18th, 2012On Wednesday, April 18, 2012 Glass Lewis held a Proxy Talk conference call to discuss proxy access shareholder proposals submitted by Norges Bank Investment Management at several companies. Representatives of Norges Bank provided their perspective on the shareholder right to nominate directors and why they have submitted shareholder proposals seeking this right at certain companies.
DESCRIPTION:
Shareholders have sought the ability to nominate directors at US companies without engaging in a proxy contest for many years. The 2010 Dodd-Frank Act gave the SEC authority to adopt rules permitting shareholders to use issuer proxy solicitation materials to nominate director candidates. In August 2010, the SEC adopted final Rule 14a-11, which under certain circumstances, gives shareholders (and shareholder groups) who have collectively held at least 3% of the voting power of a company’s securities continuously for at least three years, the right to nominate up to 25% of a board’s directors and have such nominees included on a company’s ballot and described in its proxy statement.The SEC’s rule was overturned in a US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia decision, ruling on a lawsuit brought by the US Chamber Of Commerce and the Business Roundtable. While the SEC decided not to challenge the ruling, companies are no longer able to exclude proxy access shareholder proposals.
Norges Bank Investment Management, as a shareholder in many US companies, has submitted shareholder proposals at Wells Fargo, Staples, CME Group and the Western Union Company seeking shareholder access. The proposals would allow shareholders who have held 1% of the companies’ shares for one year to nominate up to 25% of the companies’ directors. The proposals are filed as by-law amendments and are therefore binding. Glass Lewis will ask Norges Bank about their proposals and why they believe shareholders should support the ability for shareholders to nominate directors at US companies.
To download the recording of this Proxy Talk, click here.
To download a copy of the presentation that accompanies this talk, click here.
- Glass Lewis Announces the Launch of its New Issuer Engagement Portal
April 12th, 2012Glass Lewis Announces the Launch of its New Issuer Engagement Portal
Industry Leaders Streamline Corporate Engagement ProcessSan Francisco, Calif. (April 12, 2012) – Glass, Lewis & Co., the leading independent governance services firm, today announced the release of its new, free Issuer Engagement Portal, which will enhance communication and understanding among issuers, investors and Glass Lewis.
Through this portal, issuers will have access to information on Glass Lewis’ approach to analyzing proxy issues, including director elections, compensation, financial transactions and shareholder proposals on environmental, social and governance matters, among others. Issuers can also use the portal to request a meeting with Glass Lewis, propose a topic for a Proxy Talk conference call (a public forum that enables companies or dissident shareholders to discuss issues in an open dialogue) and to notify Glass Lewis of any updated company disclosure or potential data discrepancies in our analysis.
Glass Lewis strongly believes that its analysis, research and recommendations should be based on publicly available information. To that end, it encourages companies to clearly and comprehensively disclose information about relevant issues for consideration by shareholders. However, when companies file additional information in amended proxies or on their websites or when companies perceive a factual discrepancy with Glass Lewis’ analysis, the new Issuer Engagement Portal will allow for issuers to easily and quickly contact Glass Lewis and get a response where appropriate.
“From our experience supporting the engagement processes of institutional investors around the world, we know first-hand the value of transparency, good communication and responsiveness to constructive dialogue. With the launch of our new portal, we are practicing what we preach,” said Katherine Rabin, CEO of Glass Lewis. “Going forward, we will continue to build new tools that support dialogue and understanding among all participants in the governance chain.”
In addition to facilitating communication between issuers and Glass Lewis, the new portal includes a “Frequently Asked Questions” section that provides issuers with a mechanism to obtain immediate answers to the most common inquiries, as well as a number of different documents, including summary guidelines and a description of our proprietary Pay-for-Performance model, that provide detailed explanations of the various features included in Glass Lewis Proxy PaperTM analyses.
The Issuer Engagement Portal can be accessed through the following link:
www.glasslewis.com/issuerFor more information on Glass, Lewis & Co. please contact:
Jaron Schneider, (415) 738-4115, jschneider@glasslewis.com; www.glasslewis.comAbout Glass, Lewis & Co., LLC
Glass, Lewis & Co., LLC is a leading independent governance services and investment research firm, serving institutional investors worldwide that collectively manage more than $15 trillion in assets. Glass Lewis supports the creation and preservation of long-term shareholder value through high-quality, objective analysis of governance, finance, accounting, legal, political and regulatory risks at tens of thousands of public companies across the globe, and provides leading-edge vote management technology and diligent client service. Founded in 2003, Glass Lewis is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New York, Washington, D.C., Ireland, and Australia.
## - Glass Lewis and Equilar Partner To Improve Corporate Governance
February 9th, 2012Industry Leaders Join Forces to Increase Transparency in the Area of Say-on-Pay
FOR RELEASE: February 9, 2012
San Francisco and Redwood City, Calif. (February 9, 2012) – Glass, Lewis & Co., the leading independent governance services firm and Equilar Inc., the leader in executive compensation benchmarking, today announced a strategic partnership to provide institutional investors and corporate issuers with enhanced analysis of executive compensation and corporate governance matters. As part of the partnership, Glass Lewis’ Proxy Paper research will be available to corporate issuers via the Equilar platform. In addition, Glass Lewis is working with Equilar to integrate Equilar’s “market-based peer groups” and realizable pay data into Glass Lewis’ new version of the Glass Lewis P4P, a proprietary analysis of pay for performance at public companies.
Since 2003, Glass Lewis has helped investor clients identify the outliers in the area of pay for performance through the evaluation of the linkage between executive compensation and corporate performance relative to peers. Glass Lewis’ industry-leading P4P model examines seven indicators of shareholder wealth and business performance (stock price change, change in book value per share, change in operating cash flow, EPS growth, total shareholder return, return on equity; and return on assets) and analyzes two compensation data points (the chief executive’s total compensation and the top five executives’ total compensation). Each of these nine metrics is compared against those of the company’s peers to create a weighted-average executive compensation score and a weighted-average performance score.
Among the key enhancements to Glass Lewis’ P4P will be the incorporation of market-based peer groups developed using Equilar’s algorithm for analyzing publicly-disclosed relationships among thousands of companies in order to create a network of the strongest peers. Factors that determine connection strength include: direction of peer relationships, similarity between peer groups, number of connecting paths between two companies and distance of connecting paths between two companies.
“I am very excited about the partnership with Equilar,” said Katherine Rabin, Chief Executive Officer of Glass Lewis. “Through broader access to our analysis and the incorporation of Equilar’s peer groups into our P4P model, we look forward to helping investors and corporate issuers improve their engagement processes.”
During the 2012 main proxy season, Glass Lewis will complete the beta phase of its enhanced P4P model. For meetings on or after July 1, 2012, Glass Lewis’ Proxy Paper reports will include the new, enhanced version of P4P analysis featuring peer groups derived from the Equilar algorithm.
“By providing our clients with Glass Lewis’ Proxy Paper research, we are increasing the level of transparency, understanding, and engagement that is critical to improving corporate
governance,” said David Chun, CEO and Founder of Equilar. “This partnership is a step forward for both companies, and for the industry as a whole.”A full description of the partnership and benefits will be discussed on a Proxy Talk conference call jointly hosted by Glass Lewis and Equilar on February, 22 2012 at 1:00 pm ET.
For more information on Glass, Lewis & Co. and Equilar, or if interested in attending the aforementioned proxy talk, please contact:
Jaron Schneider, (415) 738-4115, jschneider@glasslewis.com; www.glasslewis.com Nick Ezzo, (650) 241-6677, nezzo@equilar.com; www.equilar.comAbout Glass, Lewis & Co., LLC
Glass, Lewis & Co., LLC is a leading independent governance services and investment research firm, serving institutional investors worldwide that collectively manage more than $15 trillion in assets. Glass Lewis supports the creation and preservation of long-term shareholder value through high-quality, objective analysis of governance, finance, accounting, legal, political and regulatory risks at tens of thousands of public companies across the globe, and provides leading-edge vote management technology and diligent client service. Founded in 2003, Glass Lewis is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New York, Washington, D.C., Ireland, and Australia.About Equilar, Inc.
Equilar’s award-winning product suite is the gold standard for benchmarking and tracking executive compensation, board compensation, equity grants and award policies and compensation practices.Equilar products and custom research services enable corporations, nonprofits, human capital consulting firms, law firms, investors, individual executives, and the media to accurately compare pay packages across thousands of public and nonprofit companies using SEC, Form 990, and proprietary survey data.
Equilar’s research is cited frequently by Bloomberg, BusinessWeek, Reuters, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and other leading media outlets. Equilar (Redwood City, CA) has been recognized as one of the fastest-growing private companies in America by Deloitte, Inc. magazine, and the Silicon Valley Business Journal.
- 2011
- Glass Lewis Establishes New European Centre In Ireland
October 18th, 2011Leading governance services firm expands network of hubs dedicated to in-region client service, research support and issuer communication
LIMERICK, Ireland (18-Oct-2011) — Glass, Lewis & Co., a leading independent governance services firm, today announced the launch of its newest office located in Limerick, Ireland. The new office will serve institutional investors throughout Europe. With the addition of the Limerick office, Glass Lewis expands its network of worldwide offices to five, which serve the company’s increasingly global client base.
“Over the past five years, we’ve experienced tremendous demand for our global governance services. The new operations centre in Ireland will enable us to enhance the vote management services we provide our 900+ institutional investor clients worldwide and to bring a new dimension to our European research and analysis,” said Katherine Rabin, Chief Executive Officer of Glass Lewis. “We look forward to working more closely with European investors, corporate issuers, regulators and standards-setting organisations.”
The Glass Lewis Limerick office and its personnel will provide client service, operations and research support to clients. In addition, the establishment of an operations base in Europe will enable us to better engage with issuers throughout the year.
“Although we do not provide consulting services to corporate issuers, we believe it’s important to meet with companies before and after the proxy season in order to discuss guidelines, research methodologies and issues specific to those companies,” said Carla Topino, Associate Vice President, European and Emerging Markets Policy. “Our presence in Europe will enable us to enhance critical engagement and research processes.”
About Glass, Lewis & Co., LLC
Glass, Lewis & Co., LLC is a leading independent governance services and investment research firm, serving institutional investors worldwide that collectively manage more than $15 trillion in assets. Glass Lewis supports the creation and preservation of longterm shareholder value through high-quality, objective analysis of governance, finance, accounting, legal, political and regulatory risks at tens of thousands of public companies across the globe; leading-edge vote management technology; and diligent client service.Founded in 2003, Glass Lewis is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New York, Washington, D.C., Ireland and Australia.
For more information on Glass, Lewis & Co. contact: Jaron Schneider, + 1 415 738 4115, jschneider@glasslewis.com; www.glasslewis.com
- Glass Lewis To Assist Institutional Investors Recover Their Losses On Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities
July 13th, 2011Research and Recovery Facilitation Service Launched Today
SAN FRANCISCO (July 13, 2011) — Glass, Lewis & Co., a leading independent governance services firm, today announced the launch of a new service designed to help institutional investors and plan sponsors recover their losses on private-label residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS). Pension funds and institutional investors are believed to have lost more than $750 billion over the past five years, exceeding the combined losses of investors in the scandals involving WorldCom, Enron, Tyco and Adelphia.
“Many of our 950 institutional investor clients are participants in the United States RMBS market,” said Katherine Rabin, Chief Executive Officer of Glass Lewis. “Our new service will assist them and other investors in getting redress for the losses they incurred when originators, servicers and trustees did not fulfill their contractual and fiduciary obligations.”
From 2005-2007, large financial institutions and banks organized a record number of private-label RMBS trusts as vehicles to reduce exposure to mortgage loans the financial institutions and banks originated. Stakes in these securitization vehicles were then sold to institutional investors. Many of these securitization vehicles, it is now believed, purchased mortgage loans that were inaccurately described to the trusts and, in turn, to investors. Since 2007, mortgage loans owned by such securitization trusts have performed extremely poorly, resulting in significant losses for investors in RMBS. Institutions seeking recoveries for these losses have been stymied by the complex governance structures of the trusts, trustee and servicer conflicts of interest and difficulties in organizing with their fellow investors.
Glass Lewis’ proprietary research and recovery-facilitation service confronts these complex challenges by helping institutional investors assess their RMBS investments, identifying securitizations in which there is a high probability that loan origination misconduct has led to investor losses, and enabling investors with overlapping holdings to collectively seek recoveries. The service will benefit any institution with current or past exposure to RMBS investments.
“We have systems that process thousands of ownership files and millions of transactions a year on behalf of institutional investors,” said John Wieck, Glass Lewis’ Chief Operating Officer. “Given the significant losses investors have incurred in RMBS, we believe this new service is a great use of that sophisticated technology, especially when coupled with our proven ability to analyze complex governance structures and transactions.”
Glass Lewis will hold a conference call to discuss the service on Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 11 AM Pacific. Interested parties should call 1-888-437-3179 (from within the US), or 1-201-604-5178 (outside the US)
About Glass, Lewis & Co., LLC
Glass, Lewis & Co., LLC is a leading independent governance services and investment
research firm, serving institutional investors worldwide that collectively manage more
than $15 trillion in assets. Glass Lewis supports the creation and preservation of longterm shareholder value through high-quality, objective analysis of governance, finance,
accounting, legal, political and regulatory risks at tens of thousands of public companies
across the globe; leading-edge vote management technology; and diligent client service.
Founded in 2003, Glass Lewis is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New
York, Washington, D.C. and Australia.For more information on Glass, Lewis & Co. contact: Bayley Diamond, 1-415-738-4115,
bdiamond@glasslewis.com; www.glasslewis.com. - 2010
- Glass Lewis Announces Agreement With PGI
December 20th, 2010Leading governance firm to provide PGI clients with proxy voting and advisory services
SAN FRANCISCO (December 20, 2010) — Glass, Lewis & Co., LLC, a leading, independent governance analysis and proxy voting firm, today announced it has entered into an agreement with PROXY Governance, Inc. (“PGI”) to provide proxy voting and advisory services to PGI’s clients.
“Over the past eight years, Glass Lewis has dedicated itself to supporting the evolving governance needs of institutional investors worldwide, investing significantly in growing our research, technology and service capabilities,” said Katherine Rabin, CEO of Glass Lewis. “We look forward to working closely with PGI and PGI clients to facilitate a smooth transition and to continuing to provide those clients with best‐in‐class solutions for all their proxy voting and engagement requirements.”
Since its founding in 2003, San Francisco‐based Glass Lewis has become the leading independent provider of governance solutions, serving more than 750 institutions, including the majority of the world’s largest asset managers, mutual funds and pension plans. Glass Lewis specializes in providing the case‐by‐case analysis of issues – from financial, compensation and economic to social and environmental – that enables institutions to vote proxies in accordance with their fiduciary duty. Through ViewPoint, its comprehensive, custom proxy vote management solution, Glass Lewis also provides institutions with the industry’s leading integrated voting platform for institutions to
implement their custom policies.“We’re pleased with this agreement, which provides for a seamless transfer of customer contracts to Glass Lewis,” said Jodi D’Ambrosio, vice president of PGI. “With its reputation for custom analysis and voting solutions, and independent research, Glass Lewis certainly is an excellent fit for our customers.” PGI will not be providing proxy voting or advisory services after the end of this year.
About Glass, Lewis & Co., LLC
Glass, Lewis & Co. LLC is a leading independent governance services and investment research firm, serving institutional investors worldwide that collectively manage more than $15 trillion in assets. Glass Lewis supports the creation and preservation of long‐term shareholder value through high‐quality, objective analysis of governance, finance, accounting, legal, political and regulatory risks at tens of thousands of public companies across the globe; leading‐edge vote management technology; and diligent client service. Founded in 2003, Glass Lewis is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New York, Washington, D.C., Europe and Australia.For more information on Glass, Lewis & Co. contact: Bayley Diamond, +1 415 738 4115,
bdiamond@glasslewis.com; www.glasslewis.com.About PROXY Governance
PROXY Governance, Inc., has provided proxy analysis, voting and reporting services to institutional investors and other clients since 2004. For more information on PROXY Governance, Inc., contact:
press@proxygovernance.com. - Glass Lewis Names John Wieck Chief Operating Officer
September 8th, 2010SAN FRANCISCO (September 8, 2010) — Glass Lewis & Co., LLC, a leading independent research and proxy advisory firm, today announced the appointment of John Wieck as Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Wieck joined Glass Lewis as Vice President of Operations in 2008, and in his new role will continue to implement processes and technology enhancements that will further improve Glass Lewis’ proxy voting efficiency and accuracy.
“Since joining the company in 2008, John has done an extraordinary job of building out our client services, operations and IT organizations and overseeing major enhancements to our ViewPoint voting platform.” said Katherine Rabin, Chief Executive Officer of Glass Lewis. “Over the past year Glass Lewis has experienced tremendous growth in our coverage universe as well as in our global client base. John has been instrumental in that growth and will ensure that as the organization expands, Glass Lewis will continue to provide the best‐in‐class proxy research and voting solutions worldwide.”
Prior to joining Glass Lewis, Mr. Wieck was Senior Director of Client Services at Broadridge Financial Solutions which was formerly part of Automatic Data Processing (ADP). Mr. Wieck held various roles supporting both the US and international proxy distribution businesses in his fourteen years at Broadridge/ADP. During his last three years, Mr. Wieck was responsible for the client service teams supporting both institutional investors and global custodians in addition to the global operations team supporting Broadridge/ADP’s international proxy distribution business. Mr. Wieck earned his BS in Management and International Business from New York University’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business and his MBA in Banking and Finance from Hofstra University’s Frank G. Zarb School of Business.
About Glass, Lewis & Co., LLC
Glass, Lewis & Co. is a leading investment research and global proxy advisory and voting services firm, serving institutions that collectively manage more than $15 trillion. Glass Lewis helps institutional investors make more informed investment and proxy voting decisions by identifying business, legal, governance and financial statement risk at more than 20,000 companies worldwide. Founded in 2003, Glass Lewis is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New York, Washington, D.C., Sydney, Paris and Tokyo.For more information on Glass Lewis & Co. contact:
Bayley Diamond, +1 415 738 4115, bdiamond@glasslewis.com
www.glasslewis.com.
# # # - 2009
- Glass Lewis Establishes Alliance with Tokyo-based Governance Visions
August 27th, 2009Institutions can now access an integrated solution from the leading providers of Japanese vote execution and independent global governance services
SAN FRANCISCO (August 27, 2009) — Glass Lewis & Co., LLC, a leading independent research and proxy advisory firm, today announced that it has entered into a strategic alliance with Tokyo-based Governance Visions Corporation, Japan’s leading domestic governance firm. With the alliance, Glass Lewis will expand its global offering to include comprehensive operational support for investors with equities domiciled in Japan. Moreover, Governance Visions clients will now have access to the full suite of Glass Lewis’ industry- leading services, including its highly-regarded ViewPoint voting platform with integrated ProxyPaper research and custom recommendations on 20,000 companies in 100 markets around the world.
“Our alliance with Governance Visions Corporation is a big step forward for our expansion into Japan and the rest of Asia,” said James Hawrylak, Head of Asian Marketing and Operations for Glass Lewis. “Governance Visions is well known domestically for the speed and reliability of its operational support and the quality of its governance data; I look forward to sharing resources to better serve investors in Japan and globally.”
“As governance continues to grow in importance in Japan, I could not be more delighted to join forces with Glass Lewis, an industry leader known for its independent research as well as its cutting-edge voting platform, to better serve the needs of investors in Japanese equities around the world,” said Mr. Yoichi Cho, Chief Executive Officer of Governance Visions Corporation.
About Glass, Lewis & Co., LLC
Glass, Lewis & Co. is a leading investment research and global proxy advisory and voting services firm, serving over 500 institutions that collectively manage more than $15 trillion. Glass Lewis helps institutional investors make more informed investment and proxy voting decisions by identifying business, legal, governance and financial statement risk at 20,000 companies worldwide. Founded in 2003, Glass Lewis is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New York, Washington, D.C., Paris, Lugano, Tokyo and Sydney.
For more information on Glass Lewis & Co. contact:
Bayley Diamond, +1 415 738 4115, bdiamond@glasslewis.com www.glasslewis.com.About Governance Visions Corporation
Governance Visions Corporation is a leading corporate governance data firm, serving major institutional investors in Japan. Founded in 2005, Governance Visions assists institutional investors in their proxy voting. The Company also serves Japanese Investor Relations advisory firms by providing US mutual fund proxy voting records (known as “N-PX filings”) for Japanese equities.
For more information on Governance Visions Corporation, contact: Hayato Asakura
E-mail: hayato_asakura@governancevisions.com
+81 3 6808 8775
www.governancevisions.com
### - Glass Lewis Launches Report Availability Through Bloomberg L.P.
February 9th, 2009Institutional investors can now access Glass Lewis’ proprietary research reports through Bloomberg’s financial information database
SAN FRANCISCO (February 9, 2009) — Glass, Lewis & Co., LLC, a leading independent research and proxy advisory firm, today announced that its proprietary research is now available through Bloomberg L.P., a service that integrates real-time and historical information on about 5 million bonds, equities, commodities, currencies and funds. The service enables institutional investors to access Glass Lewis’ Forensic Research, Monitor and Proxy Paper research directly via Bloomberg.
Investment professionals who have long relied on Bloomberg for its suite of financial data and analytics now have access to research from Glass Lewis on matters not well covered by traditional investment research: accounting policies, financial statement transparency, corporate governance, litigation and regulatory developments, related-party transactions, executive compensation and board of director independence and quality, among others.
Glass Lewis research services include The Forensic Research Group, analysis and insight into unrecognized business, legal, governance or financial statement risk at select public companies; The Monitor, an alert service that enables investors to continuously monitor public companies for signs of unusual risk; and Proxy Paper, contextual, objective analysis and voting recommendations on all proposals contained in thousands of global proxies.
About Glass, Lewis & Co., LLC
Glass, Lewis & Co. is a leading investment research and global proxy advisory and voting services firm, serving institutions that collectively manage more than $17 trillion. Glass Lewis helps institutional investors make more informed investment and proxy voting decisions by identifying business, legal, governance and financial statement risk at more than 17,000 companies worldwide. Founded
in 2003, Glass Lewis is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New York, London, Paris, Tokyo, and Sydney.
For more information on Glass, Lewis & Co. contact:
Bayley Diamond, +1 415 738 4115, bdiamond@glasslewis.com
www.glasslewis.com.
# # # - 2008
- Glass Lewis Acquires Washington Analysis Corporation
December 24th, 2008Closes Acquisition of Leading Political and Economic Advisory Firm
SAN FRANCISCO (Dec. 24, 2008) – Glass, Lewis & Co., LLC, a leading independent proxy advisory and investment research firm, today announced that it has completed the acquisition of Washington Analysis Corporation, a top-rated political and economic advisory firm based in Washington, D.C.
Founded in 1973, Washington Analysis anticipates and analyzes the impact of political, legislative and regulatory developments on the financial markets. The firm’s senior analysts are renowned for their sector expertise – including defense, energy, financial services, healthcare, media and telecommunications – and indepth knowledge of geo-politics and political economics, including fiscal, monetary and trade policy.
Washington Analysis was acquired from Xinhua Finance Limited of Shanghai and is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Glass Lewis.
About Glass Lewis
Glass, Lewis & Co. is a leading investment research and global proxy advisory and voting services firm, serving institutions that collectively manage more than $17 trillion. Glass Lewis helps institutional investors make more informed investment and proxy voting decisions by identifying business, legal, governance and financial statement risk at more than 17,000 companies worldwide. Founded in 2003, Glass Lewis is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New York, Paris, Tokyo and Sydney.For more information on Glass Lewis & Co. contact:
Bayley Diamond, +1 415 738 4115, bdiamond@glasslewis.com
www.glasslewis.com.
# # # - Glass Lewis To Acquire Washington Analysis Corporation
November 19th, 2008Enters Into Agreement for Leading Political and Economic Advisory Firm
SAN FRANCISCO (Nov. 19, 2008) – Glass, Lewis & Co., LLC, a leading independent proxy advisory and investment research firm, today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Washington Analysis Corporation (“Washington Analysis”), a top-rated political and economic advisory firm based
in Washington, D.C.Founded in 1973, Washington Analysis anticipates and analyzes the impact of political, legislative and regulatory developments on the financial markets. The firm’s senior analysts are renowned for their sector expertise – including defense, energy, financial services, healthcare, media and telecommunications – and indepth knowledge of geo-politics and political economics, including fiscal, monetary and trade policy.
“More than ever, investors are looking for unique insight into the risks within their portfolios,” said Katherine Rabin, chief executive officer of Glass Lewis. “The combination of Glass Lewis and Washington Analysis will enable institutions to have an unparalleled, comprehensive understanding of the risks at public companies – including business, governance, accounting, legal and political risks.”
Dr. Leslie Alperstein, who has led Washington Analysis since its inception, will continue to lead the research firm. Dr. Alperstein served as executive managing director and director of research at HSBC Securities Inc. and director of
investment research for NatWest Securities, Prudential Securities, Shields Model Roland and Legg Mason & Co. He is a member of the National Association of Business Economists, the National Economists Club and the Washington CFA
Society.“We are very excited to be joining the Glass Lewis Group,” said Dr. Alperstein. “Together our firms can provide institutions worldwide with powerful investment and risk management tools at a historic time for the capital markets.”
The agreement to acquire Washington Analysis is with Xinhua Finance Limited of Shanghai and is subject to certain closing conditions. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the quarter, at which time Washington Analysis will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Glass Lewis.
About Glass Lewis
Glass, Lewis & Co. is a leading investment research and global proxy advisory and voting services firm, serving institutions that collectively manage more than $17 trillion. Glass Lewis helps institutional investors make more informed investment and proxy voting decisions by identifying business, legal, governance and financial statement risk at more than 17,000 companies worldwide. Founded in 2003, Glass Lewis is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New York, Paris, Tokyo and Sydney.For more information on Glass Lewis & Co. contact:
Bayley Diamond, +1 415 738 4115, bdiamond@glasslewis.com
www.glasslewis.com.
# # # - Glass Lewis Launches New Portfolio Risk Assessment Tool
November 13th, 2008Next Generation Application Provides Real-Time Ranking of a Company’s Relative Risk, in Time for Investors to Act
SAN FRANCISCO (November 13, 2008) — Glass Lewis & Co., LLC, a leading independent research and proxy advisory firm, today announced the launch of the Risk Monitor, a tool that enables investors to understand the potential risk of their portfolio based on accounting, legal and regulatory matters that are often overlooked or poorly understood by sell side analysts.
Glass Lewis’ Risk Monitor is a web-based application that uses quantitative analysis to rank public companies based on their relative risk profile. The profiles are generated in near real-time and are summarized as percentile-based scores. The scores are calculated by tracking more than 30 data patterns that Glass Lewis has identified as predictive of risk to shareholder value.
The scores are regularly updated and adjusted to account for recent weakness or strength in a company’s stock, as well as the relative valuation metrics.
Each company’s score reflects its relative risk position within a user-defined universe, with the 100th percentile representing the highest risk ranking. Users can measure a company’s relative risk score compared to their portfolio, an industry group, market cap or index of their choosing.“This new service will allow our clients to identify at a glance those companies in a portfolio with potential business, accounting, legal and corporate governance risk before it has a meaningful impact on their investments,” said Katherine Rabin, Chief Executive Officer of Glass Lewis. “With an increasingly volatile market, it’s clear that many fiduciaries will want to be informed of such risks, in time to act.”
About Glass, Lewis & Co., LLC
Glass, Lewis & Co. is a leading investment research and global proxy advisory and voting services firm, serving institutions that collectively manage more than $17 trillion. Glass Lewis helps institutional investors make more informed investment and proxy voting decisions by identifying business, legal, governance and financial statement risk at more than 17,000 companies worldwide. Founded in 2003, Glass Lewis is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New York, London, Tokyo, and Sydney.
For more information on Glass Lewis & Co. contact:
Bayley Diamond, +1 415 738 4115, bdiamond@glasslewis.com
www.glasslewis.com.
# # # - Glass Lewis Adds Environmental And Social Data From IW Financial To It’s Proxy Paper Analysis
October 27th, 2008Proxy research service will include information on sustainability, greenhouse gas targets, non-discrimination, and other ESG issues
PORTLAND, Maine (October 27, 2008) — Glass Lewis & Co. LLC, a leading independent proxy advisory and investment research firm, is incorporating environmental and social data from IW Financial into its Proxy Paper research service, it was announced today. The addition is the latest in a series of research enhancements in identifying and analyzing all types of risks, including environmental and social, at public companies. Proxy Paper provides objective analysis and voting recommendations on thousands of proxies around the world.
Under the agreement with IW Financial, the Proxy Paper reports will now include a new ES risk profile for companies in the Russell 1000 index, indicating the company’s practice with respect to a range of ES issues including sustainability reporting, greenhouse gas emission goals, and non-discrimination policies. The ES risk profile will complement Glass Lewis’ accounting, legal, financial and governance risk assessment.
Glass Lewis clients seeking more information on environmental and social issues may subscribe to an additional service that provides in-depth research from IW Financial on a number of environmental and social categories including human rights, environment, climate change, labor issues, and sexual orientation discrimination policies.
IW Financial/Page 2
“It is increasingly valuable to our clients to have access to environmental and social data in analyzing potential investments and in making proxy voting decisions,” said Robert McCormick, Chief Policy Officer at Glass Lewis. “Adding this information to Proxy Reports is an enhancement we believe will aid clients in evaluating the risk to their investments resulting from portfolio companies’ environmental and social practices.”
“More and more institutional investors and asset management firms are seeking to better understand the environmental and social aspects of proxies,” said Sam Pierce, president of IW Financial. “As a leader in the industry, Glass Lewis is responding by expanding the scope and sophistication of research services offered in these areas. We look forward to working with them to more fully integrate environmental and social issues into new offerings to their clients.”
About IW Financial
IW Financial is a leading provider of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) research, consulting and portfolio management solutions for asset management firms, managed accounts sponsors, institutional investors, plan sponsors, and investment advisors.With its unique combination of investment industry expertise, unbiased research, and technology solutions, IW Financial helps industry professionals capitalize on growing investor demand by incorporating ESG factors into investment platforms, products, and portfolios, adding value to the money management process while strengthening client relationships.
For more information on IW Financial visit www.iwfinancial.com.About Glass Lewis
Glass, Lewis & Co. is a leading investment research and global proxy advisory
and voting services firm, serving institutions that collectively manage more than
$15 trillion. Glass Lewis helps institutional investors make more informed investment and proxy voting decisions by identifying business, legal, governance and financial statement risk at more than 16,000 companies worldwide. Founded in 2003, Glass Lewis is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New York, London, Tokyo, Sydney and Denver.
For more information on Glass Lewis & Co. contact:
Bayley Diamond, +1 415 738 4115, bdiamond@glasslewis.com
www.glasslewis.com.
### - Glass Lewis Announces Membership Of Research Advisory Council
September 2nd, 2008SAN FRANCISCO (Sept. 2, 2008) – Glass, Lewis & Co., LLC, a leading independent proxy advisory and investment research firm, today announced the membership of the Glass Lewis Research Advisory Council and the appointment of Charles A. Bowsher, former Comptroller General of the United States, as Chairman of the Council.
The Council’s mission is to inform Glass Lewis and its clients on emerging trends and issues of importance to institutional investors. Its global expertise on corporate governance, accounting, financial transparency, and legal and regulatory environments will guide development of Glass Lewis’ proxy voting policies and guidelines.
In addition to Mr. Bowsher, the other members of the Glass Lewis Research
Advisory Council are:
David R. Beatty, former Managing Director of the Canadian Coalition for Good Governance; Kevin Cameron, co-founder and former President of Glass, Lewis & Co.; Jesse Fried, Co-Director, Berkeley Center for Law, Business and the
Economy; Bengt Hallqvist, Founder of the Brazilian Institute for Corporate Governance; Charles Macek, recent Chairman of the Australian Financial Reporting Council; David Nierenberg, President of Nierenberg Investment Management Company; and Ned Regan, Professor, Baruch College.“We are thrilled to have such an array of industry thought-leaders representing such a diverse range of disciplines and expertise as the inaugural members of the Glass Lewis Research Advisory Council,” said Katherine Rabin, Chief
Executive Officer of Glass Lewis. “Their knowledge, oversight and commitment to good governance and sound business ethics will ensure that Glass Lewis’ policies remain independent and relevant to the interests of institutional
investors.”The Council will work with Glass Lewis to define a series of core principles and best practices that will help its institutional investor clients worldwide exercise their ownership rights with purpose and productivity. “We look forward to working with such a distinguished group of industry leaders in the fields of law, finance, accounting and governance,” said Robert McCormick, Chief Policy Officer of Glass Lewis.
About the Members of the Glass Lewis Advisory Board Charles A. Bowsher: Mr. Bowsher was Comptroller General of the United States and head of the General Accounting Office for 15 years. Prior to being appointed to that position by President Ronald Reagan in 1981, he was associated with Arthur Andersen & Co. for 25 years, except between 1967 and 1971, when he served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Financial Management, where his work earned him Distinguished Public Service Awards from both the Navy and the Department of Defense. Mr. Bowsher also serves as
a Director of DeVry Inc., Washington Mutual Investors Fund and SI International, as well as serving as a public member of the FINRA board. He also serves on an advisory board of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.David R. Beatty: Mr. Beatty is the former Managing Director of the Canadian Coalition for Good Governance. He also serves as the Conway Director of the Clarkson Centre for Business Ethics and Board Effectiveness at the Rotman
School of Management at the University of Toronto. Mr. Beatty is also a Director at the Institute of Corporate Directors and an active member of the ICGN Board of Governors.Kevin Cameron: Mr. Cameron is former President of Glass Lewis. Prior to co-founding Glass Lewis, he was general counsel of Moxi Digital, a technology venture that was sold to a company controlled by Paul Allen. Previously, he was
the general counsel at NorthPoint Communications, a publicly-traded broadband telecommunications company. Mr. Cameron was an attorney with the corporate law firm of Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd & Evans in Washington D.C. and served as a law clerk to the Hon. James L. Buckley of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.Jesse Fried: Mr. Fried is a Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Berkeley Center for Law, Business and the Economy. Prior to that he worked as an associate at the Boston law firm Sullivan & Worcester practicing tax law and litigation. Mr. Fried’s research expertise includes corporate law, executive compensation, insider trading, venture capital contracting, and business bankruptcy and reorganization. Mr. Fried’s recent writings include: Informed Trading and False Signaling with Open Market Repurchases; Agency Costs of Venture Capitalist Control in Startups; and co-authoring Pay without Performance: the Unfulfilled Promise of Executive Compensation.
Bengt Hallqvist: Mr. Hallqvist was a founder of the Brazilian Institute of Corporate Governance and was its chairman for its first five years. He is member of the board of directors of Maquinas Agrícolas Jacto SA, Unipac Ltda and Bionnovation SA. Mr. Hallqvist was formerly on the boards of BIM Kemi AB, Hoganas Brasil Ltda, Sasazaki SA and Siciliano SA. He is also an elected member of the Chamber of Arbiters of the Stock Exchange of São Paulo and the
Consultative and Advisory Group of the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board.Charles Macek: Mr. Macek has been a non-executive director of Telstra Corporation and Wesfarmers Ltd. since 2001 and is a member of the UniSuper investment committee. He was a member of the Financial Reporting Council from 2000 and Chairman from February 2003 until December 2007. The FRC has oversight of accounting and audit standards in Australia. From 1985 to1995 he was Founding Managing Director of County Natwest Australia Investment Management Ltd and was Chairman between 1995 and 2001, when it became County Investment Management Ltd (now INVESCO). He also served as Chairman of the Australian Investment Manager’s Association from 1995-‘98, when it was merged with two other institutional industry bodies to become the current Investment & Financial Services Association.
David Nierenberg: Mr. Nierenberg is the President of Nierenberg Investment Management Company. He is also a member of the Washington State Investment Board. Mr. Nierenberg serves as a leadership donor to the Millstein Center at Yale University.
Ned Regan: Mr. Regan is a professor at Baruch College, where he formerly served as the president. Prior to that he served four terms as the Comptroller of the State of New York from 1979-1993. Mr. Regan is also a former director of the Financial Accounting Foundation, the board that is responsible for overseeing and selecting the members of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB).
About Glass Lewis
Glass, Lewis & Co. is a leading investment research and global proxy advisory and voting services firm, serving institutions that collectively manage more than $15 trillion. Glass Lewis helps institutional investors make more informed investment and proxy voting decisions by identifying business, legal, governance and financial statement risk at more than 16,000 companies worldwide. Founded in 2003, Glass Lewis is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New York, London, Tokyo, Sydney and Denver. For more information on Glass Lewis & Co. contact:
Bayley Diamond, +1 415 738 4115, bdiamond@glasslewis.com
www.glasslewis.com.
# # # - Glass Lewis Signs United Nation’s Principles For Responsible Investment
July 31st, 2008SAN FRANCISCO,CA (July 31, 2008) – Glass, Lewis & Co., LLC, a leading independent proxy advisory and investment research firm, announced today that it has signed the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), a United Nations initiative. The PRI provide a framework for the growing view among investment professionals that environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) issues can affect investment performance and investors therefore have a fiduciary duty to give appropriate consideration to these issues. As a signatory to the PRI, Glass Lewis continues to demonstrate its growing commitment to research on issues surrounding Socially Responsible Investing (SRI).
The PRI initiative began in early 2005 when the United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, invited a group of the world’s 20 largest institutional investors from 12 countries to join a process to develop the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). The principles that resulted are defined as follows:
1. We will incorporate ESG issues into investment analysis and decision-making processes.
2. We will be active owners and incorporate ESG issues into our ownership policies and practices.
3. We will promote acceptance and implementation of the Principles within the investment industry.
4. We will work together to enhance our effectiveness in implementing the Principles.
5. We will each report on our activities and progress towards implementing the Principles.The principles serve as a best practice framework for organizations and the basis for investor collaboration. A common framework helps institutions benchmark their progress and encourages the exchange of experience and knowledge.
“Glass Lewis is honored to have joined the other esteemed signatories of this initiative,” commented Katherine Rabin, Chief Executive Officer of Glass Lewis. “Socially responsible investing increasingly plays a role in the decision making processes of our institutional investor clients, and we continue to broaden the
scope of our research on ESG issues. The PRI initiative is another step toward expanding Glass Lewis’ expertise on matters relevant to investors.”About Glass Lewis
Glass, Lewis & Co. is a leading investment research and global proxy advisory and voting services firm, serving institutions that collectively manage more than $15 trillion. Glass Lewis helps institutional investors make more informed investment and proxy voting decisions by identifying business, legal, governance and financial statement risk at more than 16,000 companies worldwide. Founded in 2003, Glass Lewis is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New York, London, Tokyo, Sydney and Denver.
For more information on Glass Lewis & Co. contact:
Bayley Diamond, +1 415 738 4115, bdiamond@glasslewis.com
www.glasslewis.com.
# # # - Glass Lewis Launches Report Availability Through Capital IQ
March 31st, 2008Institutional Investors can now access Glass Lewis’ proprietary research reports through Capital IQ’s financial information database
SAN FRANCISCO (March 31, 2008) — Glass Lewis & Co., LLC, a leading independent research and proxy advisory firm, today announced that its proprietary research is now available through Capital IQ, a web and Excel-based research platform that combines deep information on companies, markets, and people worldwide. The service enables institutional investors to access Glass Lewis’ Yellow Card, Monitor Alerts, Trend Reports and Proxy Paper research directly via Capital IQ.
Investment professionals who have long relied on Capital IQ for its suite of financial data and analytics now have access to research from Glass Lewis on matters not well covered by traditional investment research: accounting policies, financial statement transparency, corporate governance, litigation and regulatory developments, related-party transactions, executive compensation and board of director independence and quality, among others.
Glass Lewis research services include Yellow Card Reports, analysis and insight into unrecognized business, legal, governance or financial statement risk at select public companies; The Monitor, an alert service that enables investors to continuously monitor public companies for signs of unusual risk; Trend Reports, which examine accounting issues and regulatory developments that disproportionately affect certain companies or industries; and Proxy Paper, contextual, objective analysis and voting recommendations on all proposals contained in thousands of global proxies.
About Glass, Lewis & Co., LLC
Glass, Lewis & Co. is a leading investment research and global proxy advisory and voting services firm, serving institutions that collectively manage more than $15 trillion. Glass Lewis helps institutional investors make more informed investment and proxy voting decisions by identifying business, legal, governance
and financial statement risk at more than 15,000 companies worldwide. Founded in 2003, Glass Lewis is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New York, London, Tokyo, Sydney and Denver.
For more information on Glass Lewis & Co. contact:
Bayley Diamond, +1 415 738 4115, bdiamond@glasslewis.com
www.glasslewis.com.About Capital IQ
Capital IQ, a division of Standard & Poor’s, provides high-impact information and workflow solutions to over 2,000 leading financial institutions, advisory firms, and corporations. Its solutions are based on the Capital IQ Platform, a unique combination of global private and public capital market data and technology that enables end-users to draw deep market insights, generate better ideas, leverage relationships, and simplify workflow. Clients can deploy the Capital IQ Platform either as a standalone solution or seamlessly integrate its components into existing business applications and portals via systems integration and data feeds.
For more information on Capital IQ visit:
www.capitaliq.com
# # # - 2007
- Glass Lewis Launches Proxy Voting Watch List Service
September 13th, 2007Leveraging analytics from IW Financial, new tool identifies companies with environmental, social and governance profiles that present potential risks for investors
SAN FRANCISCO (September 13, 2007) — Glass Lewis & Co., LLC, a leading independent research and proxy advisory firm, today announced the launch of the ESG Watch List Service, a tool that enables Glass Lewis’ proxy voting clients to track companies with environmental, social, or governance (ESG) policies and/or practices that may create operational, performance, financial, legal, accounting or reputational risks. The service incorporates ratings from IW Financial, a leading provider of research, analytics and consulting services that enable investors to incorporate ESG factors into the investment process.
ESG Watch List Service notifies users when the practices or the ESG performance of a company within their portfolio approaches a level that may be of concern based on evaluation criteria established for the list by the client. Glass Lewis ViewPoint clients can set up one or more pre-set profiles or can elect to create custom profiles for rating the 3,000 U.S. companies in the Glass Lewis-IW Financial universe. Each watch list profile represents a set of evaluative criteria designed to capture a particular perspective or set of concerns.
“This new service will allow our clients to identify at a glance those companies in a portfolio with a pending meeting that might pose above-normal ESG risk,” said Katherine Rabin, Chief Executive Officer of Glass Lewis. “With an increased investor focus on proxy voting, it’s clear that many fiduciaries will want to be informed of such risks, which can have an impact on their ultimate vote decision.”
The companies within the universe covered by the ESG Watch List Service are rated weekly by IW Financial’s patented ratings engine to identify those that are relative poor performers for each profile type. ESG Watch List clients receive alerts on ViewPoint or via email when a watch list company issues a ballot. Subscribers can also search Glass Lewis’ comprehensive meeting database and their Ballot Inbox by watch list. Available profiles include Governance, Sustainability, SRI, and Environmental.
“We are very pleased to be teaming with Glass Lewis to provide institutions with access to our research and analytics,” said Sam Pierce, chief executive officer at IW Financial. “ESG matters are no longer simply a matter of values; they can have an impact on the bottom line. As such, fiduciaries need to have ready access to insights on information on corporate behaviors that can effect their investments. The ESG Watch List Service provides this in an easy-to-use way.”About Glass, Lewis & Co., LLC
Glass, Lewis & Co. is a leading investment research and global proxy advisory and voting services firm, serving institutions that collectively manage more than $15 trillion. Glass Lewis helps institutional investors make more informed investment and proxy voting decisions by identifying business, legal, governance and financial statement risk at more than 14,000 companies worldwide. Founded in 2003, Glass Lewis is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New York, London, Tokyo, Sydney and Denver.For more information on Glass Lewis & Co. contact:
Bayley Diamond, +1 415 738 4115, bdiamond@glasslewis.com
www.glasslewis.com.About IW Financial
IW Financial is a leading provider of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) research, consulting and portfolio management solutions for asset management firms, managed accounts sponsors, institutional investors, plan sponsors, and investment advisors. With its unique combination of investment industry expertise, unbiased research, and technology solutions, IW Financial helps industry professionals capitalize on growing investor demand by incorporating ESG factors into investment platforms, products, and portfolios, adding value to the money management process while strengthening client relationships.
For more information on IW Financial visit: www.iwfinancial.com.
# # # - Glass Lewis Announces Change in Research Management
May 21st, 2007And Formation of Independent Research Development Council
SAN FRANCISCO, CA (May 21, 2007) – Glass, Lewis & Co., a leading provider of investment research and global proxy advisory and voting services, announced today that Lynn E. Turner is leaving his post as Managing Director of Research effective June 8, 2007.
Mr. Turner has been with Glass Lewis since shortly after it launched in February 2003. “It has been four years since Glass Lewis became a reality. During that time, the company has grown from a start-up to become the world’s secondlargest proxy advisor and has become known for leading-edge financial research that is frequently cited by regulators and major newspapers,” said Mr. Turner. “I have thoroughly enjoyed working with the team of professionals who provide our clients with high-quality research and an important voice on public policy.” “Under Lynn’s tutelage, Glass Lewis has become a leading voice on corporate governance, transparency and integrity in the capital markets. His legacy will be reflected in the research done by everyone at Glass Lewis,” said Katherine Rabin, chief executive officer of Glass Lewis. “We will continue our tradition of providing our clients with strong, informed and independent views on corporate governance and accounting issues.”
Glass Lewis also announced it is recruiting a group of customers, academics and other industry experts in the fields of corporate governance and accounting to serve on a newly formed Independent Research Development Council. This council will ensure that Glass Lewis’ research continues to meet the quality standards, objectivity and independence criteria set by Mr. Turner and Glass Lewis’ outstanding research team leaders: Robert McCormick, Chief Policy Officer; Michael Lofing, Managing Director, Financial Analysis; Warren Chen, Managing Director, M&A and Quantitative Analysis; and Brittany Wedereit, Vice President, Proxy Research Operations.
About Glass, Lewis & Co., LLC
Glass, Lewis & Co., a Xinhua Finance Company (TSE Mothers: 9399), is a leading investment research and global proxy advisory and voting services firm, serving institutions that collectively manage more than $15 trillion. Glass Lewis helps institutional investors make more informed investment and proxy voting decisions by identifying business, legal, governance and financial statement risk at more than 13,000 companies worldwide. Founded in 2003, Glass Lewis is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New York, London, Tokyo, Sydney and Denver. For more information, please visit www.glasslewis.com.More Information:
Bayley Diamond, +1 415 738 4115, bdiamond@glasslewis.com# # #
- Glass Lewis Names Katherine Rabin as Chief Executive Officer
April 16th, 2007Rabin Brings Extensive Background in Independent Research,Voting Operations and Technology
SAN FRANCISCO (April 16, 2007) – Glass, Lewis & Co., a leading provider of investment research and global proxy advisory and voting services, announced today that Katherine Rabin has been named Chief Executive Officer. Her predecessor, Greg Taxin, has been tapped to assist Glass Lewis’ parent company, Xinhua Finance Limited (TSE Mothers: 9399), with its strategic initiatives in the area of business development, focused on independent
research.“Katherine is the perfect choice for the important job of leading the world’s foremost independent provider of research and proxy voting services,” said Mr. Taxin. “She is devoted to our clients and has the intelligence, tenacity, integrity and foresight to keep Glass Lewis in its leadership position.”
Ms. Rabin has been with Glass Lewis since its founding in 2003, serving in a variety of leadership roles, including sales, marketing, client services, product development and operations.
“I am looking forward to guiding Glass Lewis through a new phase of growth,” said Ms. Rabin. “Our focus on client service and objective research will remain constant as we expand our product line, client base and geographic reach.”
Prior to joining Glass Lewis, Ms. Rabin held senior positions in a variety of industries, including media, information services and technology. She was a marketing vice president at QRS Corp., a supply chain software and services company; she directed research at OTA/Off the Record Research, a division of OTA Financial Group; and she served as Business Editor for the San Francisco Examiner from 1992 to 1997.“Xinhua Finance is proud to have these two talented executives on its team,” said Daniel Connell, Chief Operating Officer of Xinhua Finance. “We look forward to having Greg help build and grow our global business and to Katherine continuing the tradition of thought leadership and objectivity at Glass Lewis.”
About Glass, Lewis & Co., LLC
Glass, Lewis & Co., a Xinhua Finance Company (TSE Mothers: 9399), is a leading investment research and global proxy advisory and voting services firm, serving institutions that collectively manage more than $15 trillion. Glass Lewis helps institutional investors make more informed investment and proxy voting decisions by identifying business, legal, governance and financial statement risk at more than 13,000 companies worldwide. Founded in 2003, Glass Lewis is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New York, London, Tokyo, Sydney and Denver. For more information, please visit www.glasslewis.com.More Information:
Bayley Diamond, +1 415 738 4115, bdiamond@glasslewis.com# # #
- 2006
- Glass Lewis Continues To Capture Market Share As It Reaches Third Anniversary
January 24th, 2006Leading Independent Research Firm Now Advises Clients That Manage More Than $11 Trillion
SAN FRANCISCO, CA (Jan. 24, 2006) – Glass, Lewis & Co., a leading independent research firm that helps institutional investors make better investment and proxy voting decisions, celebrated its third year in operation this week. Glass Lewis has grown its business at a formidable rate and announced its institutional investor clients as of Jan. 1, 2006, manage more than $11 trillion.
Glass Lewis provides proxy research and analysis on nearly 11,000 companies in 63 countries. Its research team is based in San Francisco, California, and Broomfield, Colorado and is led by Lynn E. Turner, the former chief accountant of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Glass Lewis provides proxy research and recommendation services to eight of the ten largest public pension funds* in the United States and to some of the largest public pension funds in Europe, the United Kingdom and Canada. Glass Lewis also provides these services to seven of the ten largest money managers* and mutual fund families* in the United States.
“We are obviously pleased that so many of the world’s largest investors turn to us for advice on investment and proxy voting matters,” said Gregory P. Taxin, Glass Lewis’ Chief Executive. “We believe institutional investors deserve a choice of proxy research suppliers and, apparently, so do they.”
Glass Lewis also recently launched its proxy voting platform, called ViewPoint, which assists global institutions with the execution of proxy votes. ViewPoint provides unparalleled voting accuracy, transparency and reliability. Glass Lewis announced that more than forty institutions have signed up for the service, including three of the largest public pension funds and several top-30 institutional money managers
“Our clients have been seeking a reliable partner for executing proxy votes,” said Robert McCormick, Glass Lewis’ Vice President for Proxy Research and Operations. “We are proud to deliver the best solution in the market.”
*Note: Public pension funds, as listed by Pensions & Investments (Jan. 2006); Money managers, as listed by Institutional Investor America’s Top 300 (2005); and Mutual fund families, as listed by Strategic Insight (Nov. 2005.)
About Glass Lewis
Glass, Lewis & Co. is a leading investment research and global proxy advisory firm, serving institutions that collectively manage more than $11 trillion. Glass Lewis helps institutional investors make more informed investment and proxy voting decisions by identifying business, legal, governance and financial statement risks at more than 11,000 companies worldwide. To learn more about Glass Lewis, go to www.glasslewis.com.Contact: Loren Schaffzin, +1-415-678-4119 or lschaffzin@glasslewis.com
# # #
- 2005
- Glass Lewis Achieves Dominant Market Share Among Largest Money Managers and Plan Sponsors
December 19th, 2005San Francisco (Dec. 19, 2005) — Glass, Lewis & Co., a leading investment research and proxy advisory firm, today announced that a majority of the nation’s top institutional investors subscribe to the Glass Lewis proxy research service. Glass Lewis has achieved this substantial market share in less than two years by providing investors with the only contextual, conflict- free proxy research service covering companies around the world.
Glass Lewis customers collectively manage nearly $8 trillion and include more than half of the top 15 mutual fund families*, more than half of the top 15 institutional money managers* and more than half of the top 15 public pension funds.*
“In this competitive marketplace investors have turned to us because of the quality of our advice,” said Gregory P. Taxin, chief executive officer of Glass Lewis. “We are pleased to welcome to our client base so many respected institutions that are seeking the financial, corporate governance, accounting and legal expertise we offer.”
Glass Lewis’ research team is led by Lynn E. Turner, the former Chief Accountant of the Securities and Exchange Commission. More than 70% of Mr. Turner’s staff have advanced degrees in accounting, law, finance, public policy or other areas relevant to the research Glass Lewis conducts. Glass Lewis provides advice on more than 6,200 companies, comprising 90% of the equity market capitalization of the world’s developed financial markets, including all companies in the Russell 3000, MSCI EAFE + Canada and MSCI World indices.*Note: Mutual fund families, as listed by Strategic Insight (August 2004); institutional money managers, as listed by Institutional Investor (July 2004); and public pension funds, as listed by Pensions & Investments (January 2004).
About Glass Lewis
Glass, Lewis & Co. is a leading independent investment research and proxy advisory firm, serving institutions that collectively manage nearly $8 trillion. As the only global, conflict-free provider of analysis and recommendations on corporate proxies, Glass Lewis covers more than 6,200 companies worldwide.
Glass Lewis also develops independent investment research focused on identifying unrecognized business and financial risks at public companies.
For more information about Glass Lewis, visit http://www.glasslewis.com/.
Web site: http://www.glasslewis.com/
CONTACT: Loren Schaffzin of Glass Lewis, +1-415-678-4119 or lschaffzin@glasslewis.com - Glass Lewis Achieves Dominant Market Share Among Largest Public Pension Funds
October 31st, 2005Six of Seven Largest Public Pension Funds Using Glass Lewis Proxy Services
SAN FRANCISCO, CA (Oct. 31, 2005) – Glass, Lewis & Co., the leading independent investment research and global proxy advisory firm, announced today it has achieved dominant market share among the country’s largest public pension funds. Six of the seven biggest* public pension funds now subscribe to Glass Lewis’ proxy research and vote recommendation service. No other proxy research service and voting agent has similar market share among the largest public pension funds.
“We are pleased that our research has been recognized as best-in-class in such a competitive marketplace,” said Gregory P. Taxin, Chief Executive Officer of Glass Lewis. “These prominent funds certainly have a choice in proxy service providers. We are delighted that nearly all of them have selected Glass Lewis.” Glass Lewis enables institutional investors to assess and mitigate business, legal, governance and financial statement risk at public companies. Its full suite of products and services include case-by-case objective analysis and voting recommendations on all proposals contained in the proxies of more than 8,000 companies in 52 countries, as well as a turnkey global proxy voting and compliance management solution.
Glass Lewis’ research team is led by Lynn E. Turner, the former Chief Accountant of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and is made up of accountants, lawyers and former Wall Street professionals. In addition to U.S. public pension funds, Glass Lewis clients include institutional money managers, mutual funds, hedge funds and regulators, as well as some of the largest pension funds in the United Kingdom, Canada and the European Continent.
*NOTE: Largest public pension funds as listed by Pensions & Investments’ Annual Directories, 2005.
About Glass Lewis
Glass, Lewis & Co. is a leading independent investment research and proxy advisory firm, serving institutions that collectively manage nearly $8 trillion. As the only global, conflict-free provider of analysis and recommendations on corporate proxies, Glass Lewis covers more than 6,200 companies worldwide.
Glass Lewis also develops independent investment research focused on identifying unrecognized business and financial risks at public companies.
Web site: http://www.glasslewis.com/.
Contact: Loren Schaffzin, +1-415-678-4119 or lschaffzin@glasslewis.com
# # # - Glass Lewis Appoints Robert McCormick as Vice President of Proxy Research and Operations
July 19th, 2005San Francisco (July 19, 2005) — Glass, Lewis & Co., a leading independent investment research and global proxy advisory firm, today announced the appointment of Robert McCormick, Esq., as Vice President of Proxy Research and Operations.
Mr. McCormick has extensive experience in the corporate governance field, including nine years at Fidelity Management and Research Co. Most recently, as Fidelity’s Director of Investment Proxy Research, he managed the proxy voting of more than 700 retail mutual funds and client accounts holding 5,000 domestic and global securities worth in excess of $1 trillion.
Reporting to Glass Lewis’ Managing Director of Research Lynn E. Turner, the former Chief Accountant of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Mr. McCormick will have primary responsibility for Glass Lewis’ corporate governance and proxy-related service offerings. Mr. McCormick brings to Glass Lewis keen insight into both the policy and operational aspects of proxy voting. During his tenure at Fidelity, he worked on the creation and development of internal ballot reconciliation and SEC reporting systems.
“Bob is a great addition to our team,” said Gregory P. Taxin, Chief Executive Officer of Glass Lewis. “He is arriving at a time of dramatic expansion in our business. As we enlarge our coverage universe beyond the 8000 companies in 50 countries we cover today, and as we add additional services to help our clients, Bob’s experience at making thousands of proxy voting decisions and lodging tens of thousands of votes will be critical to our clients.” Mr. McCormick is a member of the International Corporate Governance Network’s Cross-Border Voting Practices and Securities Lending committees. He is also on ADP’s Institutional Client Services Global Steering Committee. Bob is an attorney who earned his law degree from Quinnipiac University School of Law after graduating with honors from Providence College, where he majored in history.
“I am excited to join Glass Lewis at this point in the company’s history,” said Mr. McCormick. “As the only truly independent provider of proxy research on companies around the world, Glass Lewis has a bright future ahead.”
About Glass Lewis Glass, Lewis & Co. is a leading investment research and global proxy advisory firm, serving institutions that collectively manage more than $8 trillion. Glass Lewis helps institutional investors make more informed investment and proxy voting decisions by identifying business, legal, governance and financial statement risks at more than 8,000 companies worldwide. To learn more about Glass Lewis, go to www.glasslewis.com.
Contact: Loren Schaffzin 415-678-4119 lschaffzin@glasslewis.com - Glass Lewis to Launch Comprehensive Global Proxy Voting Service New Platform Will Support Investors’ Research, Voting, Compliance Workflow and Reporting Requirements
April 8th, 2005San Francisco (Aug. 8, 2005) — Glass, Lewis & Co., the leading independent investment research and proxy advisory firm, serving institutions that collectively manage more than $8 trillion, today announced it will launch in the fall the Glass Lewis Global Vote Management Service, a turnkey global proxy voting and compliance management solution.
The new service will help institutional investors worldwide to effectively fulfill proxy voting responsibilities by enabling guideline development; client account set-up and custodian interaction; proxy analysis and decision making; custom policy implementation; electronic vote submission; record- keeping; auditing; reporting; Form NPX creation and web hosting. The service is built upon a new technology platform that supports global institutions of all sizes and complete or partial outsourcing of proxy voting processes.
In developing the service, Glass Lewis received input from an investor advisory committee that includes some of the world’s largest investment managers, mutual fund families, pension funds and hedge funds. The result of this comprehensive requirements gathering process is a solution designed to meet the evolving needs of institutional investors, with features and functions, such as customizable management tools, that are not currently available in the marketplace.
With its headquarters in San Francisco, Glass Lewis assembled a team of some of Silicon Valley’s most experienced database and transaction processing engineers to build the platform over the past year. The development team is led by a 20-year veteran of the transaction processing business who previously served as the chief technology officer of a public company that accurately processed more than 10 million business-to-business electronic transactions a day.
“We will bring to institutional investors a fully customizable and auditable solution that achieves a new standard in reliability and transparency,” said Gregory P. Taxin, the Chief Executive Officer of Glass Lewis. “Our technology and processes are state-of-the-art and the Global Vote Management Service will be as revolutionary in its market as our research services have been in their markets.”
Glass Lewis’ proxy research today covers more than 8,000 public companies in 52 countries. With the launch of the Global Vote Management Service, Glass Lewis will cover all securities in its customers’ global portfolios. Glass Lewis expects its coverage universe to grow to at least 12,000 companies in 65 countries for the upcoming season.
“Our team of experienced analysts from around the world is unmatched in skill and insight,” said Lynn E. Turner, Managing Director of Research for Glass Lewis and the former Chief Accountant of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. “No other proxy research firm has the fierce independence and professional depth of our team.”
In addition to integrating its proxy research into the new Global Vote Management Service platform, Glass Lewis will continue to make its proxy research available on its own research distribution portal ( http://www.proxypaper.com/ ) and through third-party research delivery platforms, proxy voting agents and proxy delivery services.
Glass Lewis will demonstrate the features of the Global Vote Management Service’s technology platform at the meeting of the Council of Institutional Investors at the Regent Beverly Wilshire in Beverly Hills on September 28-30.About Glass Lewis
Glass, Lewis & Co. is the leading, independent investment research and proxy advisory firm, serving institutions that collectively manage more than $8 trillion. Glass Lewis helps institutional investors make more informed investment and proxy voting decisions by identifying business, legal, governance and financial statement risks at more than 8,000 companies worldwide. For more information, go to http://www.glasslewis.com/.
Web site: http://www.proxypaper.com/
Web site: http://www.glasslewis.com/
CONTACT: Loren Schaffzin of Glass, Lewis & Co., +1-415-678-4119, orlschaffzin@glasslewis.com - Glass Lewis Forms Advisory Board
January 12th, 2005San Francisco (January, 2005) — Glass, Lewis & Co., LLC, a leading independent proxy advisory and investment research firm, announced today the formation of an Advisory Board and the appointment of Arthur Levitt, the 25th Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, as its Senior Adviser. In addition to Mr. Levitt, the other founding members of the Advisory Board are: Charles A. Bowsher, Comptroller General of the United States and head of the General Accounting Office (GAO) for 15 years; and Professor Lucian Bebchuk, a Director of the Harvard Law School’s Program on Corporate Governance.
Mr. Levitt and Mr. Bowsher served together on The Conference Board’s Commission on Public Trust and Private Enterprise. That Commission, which was convened in June 2002, addressed compensation, governance and accounting issues at public companies and issued best-practice guidelines on each topic. The Glass Lewis Advisory Board will provide an institutional framework for continuing their work on these important topics.
The Glass Lewis Advisory Board’s mission is to inform the firm on emerging trends and help it focus on issues of importance to institutional investors. The Advisory Board will provide unparalleled expertise on topics of corporate governance, accounting, financial transparency and integrity to the Glass Lewis’s research department — which is led by Lynn E. Turner, the former Chief Accountant of the Securities and Exchange Commission under Mr. Levitt. The Advisory Board will work with Glass Lewis to define a series of principles and best practices that will allow managers of mutual funds and pensions funds to thoughtfully and productively exercise their ownership rights.
“We are pleased to have these well respected leaders on our Advisory Board,” said Gregory P. Taxin, Chief Executive Officer of Glass Lewis. “We are certain that the keen understanding they bring of corporate issuers, disclosure regimes, economics and the global capital markets will benefit investors and help restore their confidence in our capital markets.”About Glass Lewis
Glass, Lewis & Co. is a leading independent investment research and proxy advisory firm, serving institutions that collectively manage nearly $8 trillion. As the only global, conflict-free provider of analysis and recommendations on corporate proxies, Glass Lewis covers more than 6,200 companies worldwide.
Glass Lewis also develops independent investment research focused on identifying unrecognized business and financial risks at public companies.
For more information about Glass Lewis, visit http://www.glasslewis.com/.
Contact: Loren Schaffzin, 415-678-4119, lschaffzin@glasslewis.com.About the Members of the Glass Lewis Advisory Board
Arthur Levitt: Mr. Levitt was the 25th Chairman of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. First appointed by President Clinton in July 1993, the President reappointed Chairman Levitt to a second five-year term in May 1998. On Sept. 9, 1999, he became the longest serving Chairman of the Commission. He left the Commission on Feb. 9, 2001. Before joining the Commission, Mr. Levitt served as the Chairman of the New York City Economic Development Corporation, and, from 1978 to 1989, was the Chairman of the American Stock Exchange. He is presently a Senior Advisor to The Carlyle Group and on the board of Bloomberg LLP as well as a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.Lucian A. Bebchuk: Professor Bebchuk is the William J. Friedman and Alicia Townsend Friedman Professor of Law, Economics, and Finance and Director of the Program on Corporate Governance at Harvard Law School. He is also a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, and an Inaugural fellow of the European Corporate Governance Institute. Prof. Bebchuk holds a B.A. in Mathematics and Economics from the University of Haifa, an LL.B. from the University of Tel-Aviv, an M.A. and Ph.D in Economics from the Harvard Economics Department, and an LL.M. and S.J.D. from Harvard Law School
Charles A. Bowsher: Mr. Bowsher was Comptroller General of the United States and head of the General Accounting Office for 15 years. Prior to being appointed to that position by President Ronald Reagan in 1981, he was associated with Arthur Andersen & Co. for 25 years, except between 1967 and 1971 when he served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Financial Management, where his work earned him Distinguished Public Service Awards from both the Navy and the Department of Defense. Mr. Bowsher was also Chairman of the Public Oversight Board, an independent, private sector body that monitored and reported on the self-regulatory programs and activities of the SEC Practice Section of the Division for CPA firms of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. - 2004
- Glass Lewis Launches International Proxy Research and Recommendations Glass Lewis Becomes the Only Global, Conflict-Free Proxy Advisory Firm
September 27th, 2004San Francisco (Sept. 27, 2004) — Glass, Lewis & Co., an independent research firm serving institutional investors, announced today the expansion of its proxy research service to include foreign-based public companies. Glass Lewis now covers more than 1200 foreign companies domiciled in 23 countries. With this expansion in coverage, Glass Lewis covers more than 6200 companies across the globe and has become the only global, conflict-free provider of proxy research and analysis.
“We are flattered that our clients have asked us to expand coverage beyond the United States into overseas markets,” said Gregory P. Taxin, Glass Lewis’ chief executive officer, “and pleased that two of the largest institutional investors have agreed to become our flagship customers for this new international research product.”
With the expansion in coverage, Glass Lewis provides objective advice on companies that comprise more than 90% of the equity market capitalization of the world’s developed financial markets.
The foreign coverage universe includes all companies in the MSCI EAFE + Canada and MCSI World indices. Glass Lewis’ expanded international research teams are headed mainly by foreign-born, native speakers, most of whom were lawyers or bankers in the markets covered by Glass Lewis’ new research.
“We are delighted by the early, positive reception our new research product is getting from large, influential investors,” said Lynn E. Turner, Managing Director of Research at Glass Lewis and the former Chief Accountant of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
About Glass, Lewis & Co.
Glass, Lewis & Co. is an independent research firm that focuses on issues of corporate integrity. Glass Lewis is the only provider of global, conflict- free proxy research. Glass Lewis covers more than 6,200 companies worldwide. Glass Lewis provides research to institutions that collectively manage more than $6 trillion. Among its clients are six of the ten largest mutual fund families and six of
the eight largest pension funds. For more information about Glass Lewis, visit http://www.glasslewis.com/ .
Web site: http://www.glasslewis.com/
CONTACT: KT Rabin of Glass, Lewis & Co., +1-415-678-4224, orkrabin@glasslewis.com