DealLawyers.com Blog

July 30, 2013

CII Considers Policy on Universal Proxy Cards

Here’s news from Subodh Mishra of ISS’s Governance Exchange: The Council of Institutional Investors is considering changes to its governance policies to support the use of a universal ballot in proxy fights. The proposed addition of language backing the use of a universal ballot in proxy contests to the Council’s director election policy is meant to support the perspective that “the shareholder voting franchise will be enhanced only if proxy contest participants are allowed to circulate a proxy card with all candidates with equal prominence on a single card.” The Council contends that effective circulation and execution of a universal proxy in a 2012 proxy contest involving Canadian Pacific “suggests that reform in this area may be easier to implement than previously understood.”