Gouvernance | Page 2

Voici un rapport très intéressant sur l’activisme actionnarial : « Activist Investing in Europe: A Special Report » publié par Armand Grumberg (novembre 2016). Ce rapport démontre la croissance de l’activisme…

The inaugural edition of this report, published nearly two years ago, suggested that so long as opportunities presented themselves, activists would continue to seek governance, strategy and capital allocation reforms from European issuers. Indeed they have. After ebbing briefly in 2014, when only 51 companies were publicly targeted (after 61 in 2012 and 59 in 2013), activism has roared back, with 67 companies targeted in 2015 and 64 in the first half of 2016 alone. Assets under management for European activists have grown slowly in that period—from $21.7 billion in 2012 to $27.5 billion in 2015—suggesting the growth has been funded by new entrants and foreign players.

Even publicity-shy activists who have been working with companies behind closed doors for many years concede that the growth in activism in Europe is accelerating. Some see a cyclical boom, with activists hoping to catalyse M&A. Yet on topics such as remuneration, and with the launch of specialist European activist funds, the change appears built to last. Part of the evolution of activism in Europe has been the success of tactics seen as more common in the U.S., including proxy contests. Although longer-term participants and the bulk of campaigns suggest lowkey, collaborative approaches are still more common, activists are becoming less shy about testing where the boundaries lie.

Merci à Jacques Grisé d’avoir diffusé cette information sur son blogue : ici.

À la prochaine…

Ivan Tchotourian

L’Afrique du Sud l’affirme et l’assume : la primauté actionnariale doit être remise en cause et la gouvernance d’entreprise doit s’ouvrir aux parties prenantes. Dans son dernier rapport de novembre 2016 (King IV Report on Corporate Governance), l’institut des administrateurs de sociétés sud-africaines ne dit pas autre chose !

Vous pourrez lire l’intéressante synthèse suivante : « King: Shareholders not owners of companies » (10 novembre 2016, Fin24 city press).

Shareholders are not the owners of a company – they are just one of the stakeholders, Prof Mervyn King said on Thursday at the 15th BEN-Africa Conference, which took place in Stellenbosch.

« I realised long ago that the primacy of shareholders could not be the basis in the rainbow nation, » said King. The corporate governance theory of shareholder primacy holds that shareholder interests should have first priority relative to all other corporate stakeholders.

He said when he started with his report on corporate governance the issue was that the majority of SA’s citizens were not in the mainstream of the economy. His guidelines on corporate governance, therefore, had to be for people who had never been in that mainstream of society.

The King Reports on Corporate Governance are regarded as ground-breaking guidelines for the governance structures and operation of companies in SA. The first was issued in 1994, the second in 2002, the third in 2009 and the fourth revision was released last week.

À la prochaine…

Ivan Tchotourian

« Petit » billet proposé par Findley Davies revenant sur les sujets chauds en matière de rémunération des hauts dirigeants : « Hot Topics in Executive Compensation » (par Brad Smith).

Voici un extrait :

Areas of Interest :

a. Evergreen renewals of executive compensation agreements

b. Golden parachute excise tax gross ups

c. Guaranteed bonuses/equity grants

d. « Excessive » severance or perquisites

e. « Liberal » change of control definitions and/or payouts

f. Single trigger vesting of equity grants

g. Reconciliation of non-GAAP performance measures to GAAP

• Trends in executive compensation design

Observations :

a. Mandatory holding periods after vesting are growing in popularity for accounting purposes.

b. A portfolio approach (more than one vehicle) is becoming the norm for delivery of long term incentive compensation.

c. Total Shareholder Return is becoming a more popular performance metric.

d. Clawbacks are becoming more of a standard practice in executive compensation in light of upcoming Dodd-Frank regulations.

e. Use of stock options is becoming less common because of accounting issues and advisory firms’ stance that they are not pay for performance.

À la prochaine…

Ivan Tchotourian

Spencer Stuart vient de publier son étude 2016 sur les CA : « 2016 Global Board of Directors Survey ». Qu’en retenir ?

• Political and Economic Landscape: Uncertainty dominates boardroom Outlook
• Political and Economic Landscape: Economy, regulations and cybersecurity top issues for directors
• Company Risks: Women directors report higher concerns about risk than male directors
• Strategy: Top challenges differ for public and private companies
• Boardroom Grades: Directors consider boards weaker in people-related processes
• Board Turnover: Directors—especially women—favor tools to trigger change
• Board Diversity: Greater independence doesn’t always drive greater diversity
• Boardroom Diversity: Quotas not supported overall
• Boardroom Diversity: Search firms have been successful in expanding the talent pool of qualified female directors

Le Harvard Law School Forum résume comme suit cette étude :

Corporate boards face no shortage of challenges—from economic uncertainty to strategic and competitive shifts to a dynamic set of risks. Investor attention to board performance and governance has also escalated, and many boards are holding themselves to higher standards. Directors want to ensure that their boards contribute at the highest level, incorporating diverse perspectives, aligning with shareholder interests and setting a positive tone at the top for the organization.

Yet our research has revealed a gap between best practice and reality, especially in areas such as board diversity, HR/talent management, CEO succession planning and director evaluations. But the study provides hope that boards will make progress, as directors support practices that can help promote change. Future research is needed to track progress on these fronts and to study the impact of measures such as quotas and diversity on board performance.

Amid the many challenges confronting corporations—and the growing expectations on corporate boards—directors must be thoughtful about defining the skill sets needed around the board table and diligent in recruiting the right directors, planning for CEO succession and evaluating their own performance. In this way, they will be best positioned to contribute at the high levels which they are demanding of themselves, and to which others are holding them accountable

À la prochaine…

Ivan Tchotourian

Bonjour à toutes et à tous, intéressant article dans Le Figaro intitulé : « La rémunération des administrateurs du CAC 40 a augmenté de 15 000 euros en 2016 » (10 octobre 2016).

La rémunération des administrateurs du CAC 40 a crû de 15 000 euros en valeur absolue en 2016, selon le Panorama de la Gouvernance des sociétés cotées françaises, publié par le cabinet EY. Cette croissance est en grande partie liée au passage sous pavillon étranger de 4 sociétés ces deux dernières années et au réajustement à la hausse de la rémunération de leurs conseils d’administration, notamment pour Alcatel-Nokia et Larfarge-Holcim.

À la prochaine…

Ivan Tchotourian