According to a recent news alert by the Council of Institutional Investors, 97 precatory proposals have so far received majority support at annual meetings taking place during the first seven months of 2012. As explained below, investors represented by the Shareholder Rights Project (SRP) are responsible for over one-third of the precatory proposals receiving majority support at annual meetings so far this year.

During the 2011-12 proxy season, the SRP has been representing and advising a number of institutional investors in connection with the submission of shareholder proposals. These precatory proposals urge repealing the classified board and moving to annual elections, which are widely viewed as corporate governance best practice.

Thirty-seven proposals submitted by five SRP-represented investors — Illinois State Board of Investment (ISBI), the Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association (LACERA), the Nathan Cummings Foundation (NCF), the North Carolina State Treasurer (NCDST), and the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS) — have already gone to a vote at 2012 annual meetings. These proposals have obtained the support, on average, of 80.89% of votes cast, and thirty-five of the proposals passed. The 35 proposals brought by SRP-represented investors that passed represent 36% of all of the shareholder proposals receiving majority support at annual meetings this year.

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