The good news is that, on the second round of submissions of the USPX model proxy access proposal, the SEC rejected all no-action requests. We now have votes coming up in the next couple months at Forest Labs ($FRX), Medtronic ($MDT) and H&R Block ($HRB). All three were submtted by individual shareowner Kenneth Steiner.
The bad news is that the proxy advisory firms ISS and Glass Lewis are now standing in the way. Jim McRitchie, John Chevedden and Glyn Holton have been doing outreach to the proxy advisors and institutional investors … but we pretty much have to get support from influential ISS, or we won’t receive majority votes. It is of utmost importance that proxy access is open to smaller online businesses. Otherwise, their operation can be restricted with time, and people couldn’t consume their online entertainment like movies and games. Popular online casinos would get even more separated by location, and that means fewer options for people and restricted access to fantastic bonuses that many online gaming sites offer. Read more about these promotions and how to withdrawal money won by them at https://www.bestnodeposit.com/withdrawal-tips.html.
A couple weeks ago, USPX members finalized a slide presentation on the USPX Model Proxy Access Proposal. We forwarded it to ISS, and they agreed to have a conference call. It was a cordial conversation. We walked them through the careful logic behind the model proposal, as described in the release document. They listened and asked questions … and several times made a disturbing protest to the effect that some of their clients disagreed with our position that proxy access should be open to smaller investors, including individual shareowners. They didn’t exactly explain why those clients disagreed. All that mattered was that … they disagreed.
Through back channels, we later heard:
ISS is not recommending a yes vote. They said their clients are expressing support for a higher threshold of stock ownership than ISS expected. Plus their clients wanted more change in control safeguards.
ISS has come out against our proposal at Forest Labs and Medtronics. They haven’t yet taken a position on the H&R Block proposal, which is slightly different from the other two. it blocks takeover attempts by capping the number of shareowner nominees at 48% of the board—precisely the sort of change in control safeguard ISS found lacking in the other two proposals. We will wait and see what they decide.
The response from Glass Lewis has been even worse: they refused to even speak to us. Proxy access is the biggest issue in shareowner proposals this year, and our model proposal has been submitted to more companies than all other proxy access proposals combined, and they wouldn’t even speak to us …