📋 Tender Overview
An active proxy voting season for U.S. public companies is expected this year according to global Fintech leader Broadridge Financial Solutions Inc.. With the majority of corporations holding annual meetings between now and June 30 proposals regarding environmental social and governance matters ESG will receive investor attention.Over the past five years theres been increasing support for shareholder proposals but its largely from institutional investors notes Chuck Callan SVP Regulatory Affairs at Broadridge. Retail investors as a group are half as likely to support them. And for environmental and social proposals the gap in support is even wider with retail at 18 and institutions at 40.The ProxyPulse Report features voting trends covering 4125 public company annual shareholder meetings held between January 1 and June 30 2021. The report highlights voting trends over the past five proxy seasons. Download the full report here.Key Takeaways and Trends from the 2021 Proxy SeasonShareholder proposal supportSupport for shareholder proposals has grown steadily over the past five years to 40 of the votes castEnvironmental and Social and Political SpendingRetail investor support for environmental and social proposals at 18 in 2021 was half that of institutional investors at 40Retail support for political spending proposals declined from 23 in 2020 to 19 in 2021 while institutional support rose from 40 in 2020 to 45 in 2021Directors23009 directors stood for election in the 2021 proxy season. Average support levels remain high at 94 of the voted shares. However 541 directors failed to attain majority supportVirtual shareholder meetings VSMsFor the full year 2021 meetings held virtually rose to 2377 up from 1957 in 2020 and up from 326 in 2019Companies have garnered increased investor attendance and decreased venue security and transportation costs of hosting in person meetingsInvestors can easily attend ask questions vote and also avoid the costs of attending meetings in person
