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.”
Recommended for you
In this week’s special edition of Relative Return Insider, we bring you outgoing Financial Services Minister Stephen Jones’ keynote from Momentum Media’s Election 2025 event, followed by a Q&A focused on the Delivering Better Financial Outcomes reforms.
In this week’s episode of Relative Return Unplugged, Dr Vladimir Tyazhelnikov from the University of Sydney’s School of Economics joins the show to break down the shifting sands of global trade dynamics and attempt to understand the way US President Donald Trump is employing tariffs.
In this week’s special episode of Relative Return Unplugged, we present shadow treasurer Angus Taylor’s address at Momentum Media’s Election 2025 event, followed by a Q&A covering the Coalition’s plans for the financial services sector.
In this week’s episode of Relative Return Unplugged, AMP chief economist Shane Oliver joins the show to unravel the web of tariffs that US President Donald Trump launched on trading partners and take a look at the way global economies are likely to be impacted.