Activism encouraged
Australian institutional investors have been encouraged to remain shareholder activists in the interests of ensuring appropriate corporate governance within major companies both domestically and overseas.
The executive director of the International Corporate Governance Network, Anne Simpson, pointed to the success institutional investors, including Australian superannuation funds, have had dealing with the News Corporation transfer to US Delaware jurisdiction.
Addressing the Conference of Major Superannuation Funds, Simpson said it was important for Australian institutional investors such as superannuation funds to be aware of what was happening in jurisdictions such as the US, and the possible knock-on effects with respect to their investment objectives.
She said the US had experienced a spectacular series of corporate scandals that had given rise to new legislation aimed at overcoming such situations, but shareholders were still battling for basic rights in the face of “Soviet-style” director elections.
“Our view is that an opportunity was missed after the US (corporate) collapses,” Simpson said. “Too often, the options (confronting investors) are ‘sell or sue’. In those circumstances, you need to know the governance risks before going over there.”
AUTHOR
Mike Taylor
Recommended for you
Join us for a special episode of Relative Return Unplugged as hosts Maja Garaca Djurdjevic and Keith Ford are joined by shadow financial services minister Luke Howarth to discuss the Coalition’s goals for financial advice.
In this special episode of Relative Return Unplugged, we are sharing a discussion between Momentum Media’s Steve Kuper, Major General (Ret’d) Marcus Thompson and AMP chief economist Shane Oliver on the latest economic data and what it means for Australia’s economy and national security.
In this episode of Relative Return Unplugged, co-hosts Maja Garaca Djurdjevic and Keith Ford break down some of the legislation that passed during the government’s last-minute guillotine motion, including the measures to restructure the Reserve Bank into a two-board system.
In this episode of Relative Return Unplugged, co-hosts Maja Garaca Djurdjevic and Keith Ford are joined by Money Management editor Laura Dew to dissect some of the submissions that industry stakeholders have made to the Senate’s Dixon Advisory inquiry.
