February 05, 2018
Corporate Star Chamber Controls the Boards of Great Companies
Timothy Birdnow
Americans for Limited Government promoted this article detailing how certain activist hedge funds with a few corrupting individuals controls a large swath of corporate America's money and influence. It's a fascinating read.
From the article: "How eight men inside a Maryland office park decide the fate of the country’s greatest companies.
*
By Michelle Celarier
January 29, 2018
...The ISS role in weighing in on the outcome of corporate control battles, whether M&A deals or activist proxy contests for boardroom seats, is a small part of ISS — only eight out of 1,000 employees comprise the special situations research group. That’s no doubt because contested situations are rare — estimated at less than one half of a percent of total meetings. That group is, however, what one former ISS executive calls the "heartbeat†of the organization.
It is also the most controversial. For years, corporations have complained about ISS, believing that it typically sides with activists. "Every corporation in the U.S. hates ISS,†says one attorney who has been on both sides of activist battles.
It’s understandable that corporate chieftains don’t like the situation ISS puts them in. "You’re told that your future and your legacy depend on this tiny little office in Rockville, Maryland, and that you’ll sit there for 90 minutes while they pass judgment on you,†says one corporate adviser....
[...]
ISS’s historic support for activists could be one reason why corporations are trying to convince Washington to rein it in. Last year, new legislation to regulate proxy advisers was introduced in the House by Representative Sean Patrick Duffy, a Republican from Wisconsin.
The legislation "would grant ‘companies,’ apparently meaning corporate management, the right to review the proxy advisory firms’ research reports before the paying customers — investors — receive the reports,†the Council of Institutional Investors said in a letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi opposing the legislation. Proxy advisers would also be forced to hire an ombudsman to resolve a corporation’s complaints, and publish company management’s dissenting statements. In part because of the tight timeline during proxy season for many of the contested cases, it wrote, "the provisions are not practical.â€
End excerpts.
Sooo, a consulting company called Institutional Shareholder Services controls the fate of many major corporations - which means the fate of their money, and that means the direction they will go and the direction they will take America.
Fascinating read.
Americans for Limited Government promoted this article detailing how certain activist hedge funds with a few corrupting individuals controls a large swath of corporate America's money and influence. It's a fascinating read.
From the article: "How eight men inside a Maryland office park decide the fate of the country’s greatest companies.
*
By Michelle Celarier
January 29, 2018
...The ISS role in weighing in on the outcome of corporate control battles, whether M&A deals or activist proxy contests for boardroom seats, is a small part of ISS — only eight out of 1,000 employees comprise the special situations research group. That’s no doubt because contested situations are rare — estimated at less than one half of a percent of total meetings. That group is, however, what one former ISS executive calls the "heartbeat†of the organization.
It is also the most controversial. For years, corporations have complained about ISS, believing that it typically sides with activists. "Every corporation in the U.S. hates ISS,†says one attorney who has been on both sides of activist battles.
It’s understandable that corporate chieftains don’t like the situation ISS puts them in. "You’re told that your future and your legacy depend on this tiny little office in Rockville, Maryland, and that you’ll sit there for 90 minutes while they pass judgment on you,†says one corporate adviser....
[...]
ISS’s historic support for activists could be one reason why corporations are trying to convince Washington to rein it in. Last year, new legislation to regulate proxy advisers was introduced in the House by Representative Sean Patrick Duffy, a Republican from Wisconsin.
The legislation "would grant ‘companies,’ apparently meaning corporate management, the right to review the proxy advisory firms’ research reports before the paying customers — investors — receive the reports,†the Council of Institutional Investors said in a letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi opposing the legislation. Proxy advisers would also be forced to hire an ombudsman to resolve a corporation’s complaints, and publish company management’s dissenting statements. In part because of the tight timeline during proxy season for many of the contested cases, it wrote, "the provisions are not practical.â€
End excerpts.
Sooo, a consulting company called Institutional Shareholder Services controls the fate of many major corporations - which means the fate of their money, and that means the direction they will go and the direction they will take America.
Fascinating read.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
09:51 AM
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