Proxy Season

As expected when we heard that BlackRock had resumed shareholder engagements shortly after it paused them in the wake of Corp Fin’s new CDI positions regarding “control” and “influencing” a company when engaging, Vanguard also has now resumed its engagements after pausing them a few weeks ago, as reported in this article. It will be interesting to hear how the nature of engagements going forward …

This Cooley Alert that I blogged about earlier today – penned by Brad Goldberg, Beth Sasfai, Luci Altman, and Michael Mencher – has been updated for this development: “On March 4, 2025, Glass Lewis sent a memo to clients providing an update on its diversity-related proxy voting policies. While an earlier Glass Lewis memo from February 19 previewed that Glass Lewis was considering implementing changes …

After the following intro of this Cooley Alert – penned by Brad Goldberg, Beth Sasfai, Luci Altman, and Michael Mencher – dig into the nitty gritty of the various investor and proxy advisor policy updates you should be aware of, as well as the takeaways (including addressing how State Street updated its voting policies in this area on Friday): “Public companies find themselves rethinking disclosures …

A few days ago, I blogged that BlackRock had temporarily paused engagements so they could digest and adjust to Corp Fin’s new CDI positions regarding “control” and “influencing” a company when engaging. As noted in this Reuters article, BlackRock has now resumed its engagements. It has also been reported that Vanguard has temporarily paused its engagements – and I imagine that it too will resume …

Given the late season announcement last week from ISS on its board diversity voting policies, it’s not that surprising that Glass Lewis also has now announced changes to its voting policies in this area. Glass Lewis has sent a memo to clients – with further guidance coming on March 3rd after it hears feedback from its investor clients and after the DOJ issues a report …

Here’s the intro from this Cooley Alert from Brad Goldberg, Beth Sasfai, Reid Hooper and Michael Mencher: “On February 11 and 12, 2025, the staff of the Division of Corporation Finance (Staff) of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) provided a pre-Valentine’s Day treat for public companies and shareholders to digest in the form of two new significant sets of guidance with the potential to …

In a rare move to update its voting policies in the midst of proxy season, ISS issued this press release stating it will no longer consider a board’s gender, racial or ethnic diversity when making director election recommendations. This policy change applies to the US benchmark and specialty policies of ISS – and apply to shareholder meeting reports published on or after February 25th. ISS …