Shareholder proposals regarding shareholders’ ability to nominate director candidates to management’s proxy (“proxy access”) took center stage during the 2012 proxy season.
As a result of a 2011 court ruling that overturned Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) rules mandating universal proxy access, but that upheld shareholders’ ability to submit shareholder proposals requesting that companies allow investors access to the proxy, investors began to adopt various approaches to ensure this important right. While there were only a handful of shareholder proposals requesting this provision in the past year, proxy access has again come to the forefront of governance issues and investors must now begin to deal with this complex matter.
Proxy Access: A Glass Lewis Issue Report discusses the emerging issue of proxy access in the context of shareholder engagement, beginning with a brief history of proxy access in the United States and how shareholder views and proposals have evolved with respect to this issue. We also discuss the empirical studies that have been conducted regarding proxy access and its effects on shareholder value. Finally, this report discusses Glass Lewis’ analysis of proxy access shareholder proposals put forth in 2012 and the rationale for our voting recommendations. The goal of this report is to provide detailed information about proxy access so that shareholders can make more informed proxy voting decisions.
Clients of Glass Lewis can access the report one of two ways: Those with access to GlassLewis.net, first log in using your GlassLewis.net credentials, and then download Proxy Access: A Glass Lewis Issue Report here, or for those who exclusively use our ViewPoint voting platform, please email your Client Services Manager to request the reports.
Non clients can request the report through GlassLewis.com.