As we read about the growing attacks on proxy advisors – and how institutional investors may be passing through voting choice down to their clients, not to mention a world where the art of shareholder engagement gets more tricky, the importance of what a company discloses grows. It’s the way that companies can tell their story and try to be persuasive in a more challenging environment to procure votes and solicit and retain investors.
That’s why this commentary from Proxy Analytics’ Steve Pantina rung so true to me during a webcast that I ran last week (I edited Steve’s remarks slightly to make them more publishable):
“Your proxy better do a heck of a lot of speaking for you. And if you’re burying things and things can’t be found in your disclosure, that’s not great. There is an opportunity every year to refine your disclosure. I think investors very much appreciate disclosure about how your processes work and what your thoughts are about various topics, whether it be responses to shareholder proposals or whether it be about how oversight is conducted.
Those are the types of disclosure areas which can be fruitful for companies to show what they are doing and will be relied upon more and more heavily by investors in this new environment where the importance of engagement continues to grow. And voting choice becomes more pervasive.”
