Kieran Poole is joined by Olshan Frome Wolosky's Ryan Nebel and Elizabeth Gonzalez-Sussman, as well as Diligent Market Insight's Rebecca Sherratt to discuss our Proxy Season Review 2023.
Ryan and Elizabeth are vice-chairs of the law firm's shareholder activism group.
Among the top findings:
Activists refocus on financials: The number of capital structure, return cash to shareholder, and operational demands increased by 39.3%, 25.9%, and 17.4% globally, compared to a year prior, with activists keen to maximize investor returns amid depressed markets.
ESG suffers a crisis of confidence: Amid increasingly vocal anti-ESG sentiment, support for ESG proposals has been decidedly mixed. Globally, nine (2.4%) E&S shareholder proposals won majority support, compared to 36 (10.1%) in the first half of 2022.
Directors are subject to increased scrutiny: In the first half of 2023, shareholder support for global director elections has declined to 95.6%, compared to 96.4% and 96.1% throughout 2021 and 2022, respectively.
Look out for our countdown of the wildest campaigns which will appear in your podcast feed soon.