On October 20, Fenwick attorneys David Bell, Katherine Duncan and Ron Llewellyn discussed key strategies for shareholder engagement planning and voting trends expected in 2022 with Brian Kelly, Deputy General Counsel of DocuSign and Hannah Orowitz, Corporate Governance Senior Managing Director of Georgeson. See our key takeaways below.
Key Takeaways When Conducting Shareholder Engagement
- The purpose of the engagement is to form a relationship with shareholders that is conducive to the sharing of information on various topics impacting the company, which may generate goodwill and provide the company with protection from activists.
- Companies should usually plan to engage with shareholders outside of proxy season when institutional investors have more time and bandwidth to speak with them.
- A company’s engagement strategy will typically involve its largest institutional investors and may be shaped by their voting policies and priorities.
- A company should ensure that any directors and members of management participating in engagement are knowledgeable about and can speak to the areas of interest or concern for investors.
- The company’s representatives should not discuss any material non-public information that would violate Regulation FD and should be aware of other potential disclosure obligations under U.S. securities law.
View a recording of the discussion or read our article, Public Company Guide – Planning for Shareholder Engagement, to learn more.
Please reach out to Fenwick attorneys David Bell, Ron Llewellyn, Ran Ben-Tzur or Katherine Duncan for more information or questions you may have on this topic.
