Activists increase their focus on smaller issuers

By Jacob Cawker (Toronto) on September 7, 2016 Posted in Shareholder Activism

Shareholder activism is often associated with campaigns involving large, high-profile issuers. Yet as the Financial Times reports in a recent article, referencing global data from Activist Insight, there has been a slight upswing this year in activism against relatively small issuers. The data show that from the start of year to the end of July, … Continue reading

Board diversity: the latest metrics and government measures

By Trevor Zeyl on August 29, 2016 Posted in Corporate Governance

The diversity of boards has become a target of greater scrutiny. This scrutiny has come not only from activist investors seeking higher returns and better governance, but from governments and various interest groups outside the corporation. It has homed in on a variety of director characteristics, including length of tenure, age, gender, and visible minority … Continue reading

Moving away from a mechanistic evaluation of board term limits

By Jenny Yoo on June 24, 2015 Posted in Corporate Governance, Uncategorized

Earlier this month, Robert Pozen, senior lecturer at Harvard Business School contended that a simple reliance on board term limits as an evaluation tool of corporate performance is based on “faulty logic”.[1] Concerns around extended tenure of directors typically include anxieties over compromised director independence and the development of a friendliness with management. According to … Continue reading