Corporate governance - Vigil

Fuel prices over the past month show the same vertiginous upward slope as a covid-19 case count during a particularly brutal wave. Coal and gas prices have touched all-time highs. Asian spot prices for gas have jumped by nearly 1,000% in the past year. The cost of oil has soared as shortages of other fuels have pushed up demand for crude.

Rogers Communications Inc. said its board formed an executive oversight committee during the third quarter to put in place “clear protocols” for interactions between chair Edward Rogers and the company’s management team.

The executive oversight committee consists of John Clappison, lead director John MacDonald and deputy chair Melinda Rogers-Hixon, the company said in a filing Thursday, as it reported its third-quarter results. The board will also undertake a review of its corporate governance.

The Boeing Company Derivative Litigation (Sept. 7, 2021) is another in a series of cases in recent years in which the Delaware Court of Chancery has found, in the wake of a “corporate trauma” relating to product safety issues, that the company’s independent directors may have personal liability to the stockholders, under the “Caremark doctrine,” for a failure to have overseen management of the corporation’s core risks. In the Boeing opinion, Vice Chancellor Zurn echoes a number of themes from other recent cases involving so-called “Caremark claims,” and thus provides important guidance with respect to best practices for directors in fulfilling their oversight responsibilities

PayPal Holdings Inc. is in talks to buy social-media platform Pinterest Inc., according to people familiar with the matter, in a move that would take the payments giant’s business in a new direction.

The District of Columbia’s attorney general is seeking to hold Facebook Inc. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg personally liable in a lawsuit stemming from the 2018 Cambridge Analytica scandal, in what the district said was a novel legal action against the social-media giant.

Our view is the choices we make available to clients should also extend to proxy voting. We believe clients should, where possible, have more choices as to how they participate in voting their index holdings.

Beginning in 2022, BlackRock is taking the first in a series of steps to expand the opportunity for clients to participate in proxy voting decisions where legally and operationally viable. To do this, BlackRock has been developing new technology and working with industry partners over the past several years to enable a significant expansion in proxy voting choices for more clients.

Chinese real estate developer Evergrande said a potential sale of its property services unit had collapsed, deepening the pressure on the group that has just days to avoid an official default on its debt.

A deal to sell 50.1 per cent of Evergrande Property Services Group to fellow developer Hopson Development Holdings for HK$20bn ($2.6bn) had been terminated last week, the group said in filings late on Wednesday.

Special purpose acquisition company BowX Acquisition Corp. said Tuesday its shareholders approved the previously announced business combination with shared-workspace company WeWork Inc.

BowX said the deal is expected to provide WeWork with cash proceeds of about $1.3 billion.

A common misconception about Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) investment practice is that, along with the many other sustainability acronyms, it is a hot topic driven by the media. The terminology might be trending and evolving, but the fundamental convictions behind sustainable value, transparency, and accountability to stakeholders are the new business as usual.

Demand for ESG Disclosure and the related ecosystem has grown exponentially in recent years. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated social issues such as occupational health and safety and supply chain labor, and now urgent global disruptions are giving way to investors finding solutions to understand and catalyze corporate responsibility. Extra-financial measures are increasingly integrated into investor decision making; the number of investor PRI signatories has increased by 29% in the last year alone.

Since 2006, ISS ESG has seen an increase in shareholder proposals requesting that companies report their climate change performance. Institutional investors are seeing the connection between long- term business health and systematic management of ESG issues such as climate.

Long-term shareholders CIFF Capital UK LP and The Children's Investment Master Fund, acting by their investment manager TCI Fund Management Limited, today issued its strategic plan to put Canadian National Railway Company back on track. The plan, which highlights the case for change at the CN Board of Directors (the "Board") and for a new CEO, details four key priorities, a strategic plan to strengthen CN's governance, leadership and network, and a six-point plan for sustainable long-term growth from its Montreal headquarters.

Who could resist an article with this title? Are Narcissistic CEOs All That Bad? from the Rock Center for Corporate Governance at Stanford University. We’ve all certainly had experience of some type with narcissists who had a corrosive effect, no? So narcissism has to be bad, right?  Maybe not so much, according to the authors.  While it’s often believed that “CEO narcissism is highly prevalent, and considerable research suggests that narcissism is associated with worse outcomes,” the authors suggest that that research relies on “indirect evidence thought to be indicative of narcissism.” Instead, for this paper, the authors base their views on more direct assessments of personality and come up with some “unexpected associations.”

Chip maker GlobalFoundries, owned by Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Co, is aiming for a valuation of about $25-billion in its initial public offering in the United States.

The IPO, one of the most hotly anticipated listings, is expected to cap a record year for flotations, after several big names such as Robinhood Markets Inc, Coinbase Global Inc and Roblox Corp capitalized on the stock markets boom earlier in 2021.

Pressures on corporate boards to address environmental, social, and governance concerns are stronger than ever. The good news is that by investing in these areas even without an immediate commercial payoff, companies can bolster their long-term positions with both the stock market and society.

Companies still need to make sure the ESG issues they tackle will boost profitability over time—otherwise, investors will leave and financial resources will not be available to further serve society. But in serving shareholders, they can also promote a broader set of stakeholders. The choice is not either/or; it is both/and.

Here are guidelines for translating ESG imperatives into action, especially for executive compensation.

Recent attacks against a major U.S. oil pipeline and IT management software firm thrust ransomware into the limelight—and for good reason. These are very real threats to organizations of all sizes and, as we’ve seen firsthand, they have the potential to cripple businesses.

Ransomware-as-a-service gangs are making it easier than ever for cybercriminals of all skill levels to get their hands on off-the-shelf, ready-to-use ransomware kits.

Attackers are raising the stakes, and the first step in fighting back is in understanding the threat—what ransomware is, the costs and how to best protect your business.

BlackRock, the world’s biggest asset manager, said on Thursday it had voted against the re-election of more than 800 company directors during an Asia-dominated third quarter for annual general meetings.

Turkey is set to be “grey listed” by a global finance watchdog this week for failings in its approach to combating money laundering and terrorist financing, according to two western officials.

In a move that risks further denting Turkey’s already limited ability to attract crucial foreign capital, members of the Financial Action Task Force were likely to approve the decision during discussions in Paris on Thursday, the officials said.

Jens Weidmann has decided to step down after a decade as head of Germany’s central bank, only weeks after the country’s general election and shortly before a crucial decision on the future of eurozone monetary policy.

The president of the Bundesbank has been one of the most vocal critics of the ultra-loose monetary policy pursued by the European Central Bank, where he fought an often lonely battle against its bond buying and negative interest rate policies.

Negotiators from nearly every country on earth, financiers who oversee trillions of dollars, and environmentalists are descending on Glasgow for the most important climate meeting since the Paris agreement in 2015. Since then, businesses and investors have spent billions of dollars to transition away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy. Governments have boosted regulations and spent heavily to reduce the financial impact of weather disasters, which have increased as the globe’s temperature has risen.

Credit Suisse Group AG’s efforts to spy on top executives were broader than previously known and broke Swiss supervisory law, that country’s financial regulator said Tuesday.

The regulator, Finma, said that senior management knew about at least some of the seven surveillance campaigns it documented, pushing back on the bank’s claims that rogue employees were to blame.

Il a vu naître le Québec inc. à titre de journaliste économique au Devoir dans les années 1970. Il a fait bourgeonner les fleurons québécois à partir des années 1980 comme dirigeant de la Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec. À la fin de sa vie, il a veillé au grain des entreprises d’ici comme directeur général de l’Institut sur la gouvernance (IGOPP). Le grand défricheur de l’entrepreneuriat au Québec, Michel Nadeau, est mort d’un cancer mardi en fin de journée.

Rogers Communications Inc. chair Edward Rogers says he sees “room for improvement” in the company’s long-term performance, breaking his silence after a failed bid to oust chief executive officer Joe Natale and other executives.

Mr. Rogers has also made a formal request for a list of the company’s shareholders and had discussions with potential candidates to replace board members, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter.

Now in its 36th year, the U.S. Spencer Stuart Board Index examines the latest data and trends in board composition, board governance practices and director compensation among S&P 500 companies.

Shareholders in supermarket group Morrisons on Tuesday approved a £7-billion ($9.7 billion) offer from U.S. private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R), bringing the curtain down on Britain’s most fiercely contested takeover this year.

Morrisons said the requisite majorities of shareholders backed the deal, which had been recommended by the board, at meetings held both physically at its Bradford, northern England headquarters and virtually.