The Spotlight will Shine More Brightly on Shareholder Voting Processes in M&A

To read "M&A: Tory's Top Trends for 2011" in full, please click here.

In 2009, we predicted that shareholder activism would increase in 2010. We saw this borne out. Shareholders are increasingly exercising their voices, in some cases after pushing for the right to do so, in corporate decisions ranging from matters such as "say on pay" to endorsing or rejecting M&A transactions and the continuance of shareholder rights plans, to replacing directors who are not to their liking. We see this activism continuing in 2011, accompanied with a new focus on the mechanics of the proxy system in Canada and the United States. Interestingly, what we also began to see in 2010 was the corporate world pushing back against what it considered to be the growing and inappropriate influence of proxy advisory firms on the way shareholders exercise their votes. We believe this movement will gain more momentum in 2011