We simply weren't prepared for the onslaught, though analysis of past voting trends on at least two proposals - confidential voting and opting out of Delaware 203 - showed that sentiments of
institutional shareholders were rapidly changing.
The stake, the size of which was not specified, was sold to more than 20 new and existing institutional investors, the vendor said, adding that Investec Asset Management and Uganda's National Social Security Fund (NSSF) had become leading
institutional shareholders in Umeme.
Institutional shareholders such as pension funds, dissatisfied with underperforming company boards, have increasingly used their economic muscle to force changes in how firms are run.
Ordinarily in such battles, the company that offers
institutional shareholders the best prospects is the winner.
The first time I actually used the words "corporate governance" was in '83, and the first time I wrote about the
institutional shareholders was in '87.
In conjunction with their growing influence on many areas of corporate governance,
institutional shareholders have become increasingly involved in the issue of officers' compensation in publicly traded companies.
Barrick sold 66,235,264 ordinary shares in the company at GBP1.20 per share to new and existing
institutional shareholders of Highland Gold, raising total gross proceeds of approximately USD130m.
At the same time, the
Institutional Shareholders' Committee, speaking for the majority of Britain's institutional investors, set out a series of guidelines on monitoring company performance intended to spot problems before they develop.
Shedlarz: You'll note until we got out there and went through the extensive effort of explaining the deal to the
institutional shareholders, the stock did vacillate.
That's starting to change now, because boards of directors are being held accountable by shareholders, particularly
institutional shareholders.