A joint 2019 Nasdaq/US Chamber (CCMC) (fifth annual) survey of 172 companies regarding their interactions with ISS and Glass Lewis revealed these - among other - key results:
- 87% of respondent companies had a proxy advisor recommendation on an issue in their proxy statement.
- Just 39% (same as 2018) believed the proxy advisor carefully researched and took into account all relevant aspects of the particular issue on which it provided advice.
- 17% of companies formally requested previews of proxy advisor recommendations; only 39% of those reported that the advisor accommodated the request (down 5% from 2018).
- 30% of companies asked proxy advisors for opportunities to provide input before and after their recommendations were finalized. Those who requested the opportunity were commonly given 1 - 2 days (and sometimes only hours) to respond to the recommendations.
- Of the 21% of companies that reached out to proxy advisors to meet and discuss issues subject to shareholder votes, requests were denied 60% of the time.
- Nearly 20% of companies identified significant conflicts of interest at the proxy advisory firms.
- Nearly 60% of companies overall said they were approached by ISS Corporate Solutions during the same year they received a negative vote recommendation.
See also the Chamber's release, this Pensions & Investments article, and numerous additional resources on our Proxy Advisors page. This post first appeared in the weekly Society Alert!