Weekly Roundup: April 9

This roundup contains a collection of the posts published on the Forum during the week of April 9–15, 2021.

Sustainable Investing in Equilibrium

Posted by Lubos Pastor (University of Chicago), Robert F. Stambaugh (The Wharton School), and Lucian A. Taylor (The Wharton School), on Friday, April 9, 2021

Tags: Climate change, Corporate Social Responsibility, Environmental disclosure, ESG, Institutional Investors, Long-Term value, Sustainability

Statement by Acting Director Coates on SPACs, IPOs and Liability Risk under the Securities Laws

Posted by John C. Coates, U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission, on Friday, April 9, 2021

Tags: Capital formation, Investor protection, IPOs, Merger litigation, Mergers & acquisitions, PSLRA, SEC, SEC enforcement, Securities enforcement, Securities litigation, Securities regulation, SPACs

Federal Court Dismisses Derivative Complaint Seeking to Impose ESG Initiatives on a Public Company

Posted by Rick Horvath, Peter Stone, and Edward Han, Paul Hastings LLP, on Saturday, April 10, 2021

Tags: Boards of Directors, Business judgment rule, Derivative suits, ESG, Institutional Investors, Securities litigation, Shareholder suits, U.S. federal courts

Gender Diversity in the Silicon Valley

Posted by David A. Bell, Dawn Belt, and Ron C. Llewellyn, Fenwick & West LLP, on Sunday, April 11, 2021

Tags: Board composition, Boards of Directors, California, Diversity, ESG, Human capital, Management, Tech companies

Supreme Court to Weigh in on Presumption of Reliance in Securities Class Actions: Goldman Sachs v. Arkansas Teacher Retirement System

Posted by Jason Halper, Matthew Karlan, and Nicholas Caros, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP, on Monday, April 12, 2021

Tags: Basic, Class actions, Fraud-on-the-Market, Reliance, Rule 10b-5, Securities fraud, Securities litigation, Supreme Court

Executive Pay and ESG Performance

Posted by Tom Gosling, London Business School, and Phillippa O’Connor, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, on Monday, April 12, 2021

Tags: Corporate Social Responsibility, ESG, Executive Compensation, Incentives, Long-Term value, Pay for performance, Performance measures, Stakeholders

The Structure of the Board of Directors: Boards and Governance Strategies in the US, the UK and Germany

Posted by Klaus J. Hopt (Max Planck Institute) and Patrick C. Leyens (University of Bremen), on Monday, April 12, 2021

Tags: Antitakeover, Boards of Directors, Corporate purpose, EU, Germany, International governance, Mergers & acquisitions, Related party transactions, Stakeholders, Takeover defenses, UK

A Living Wage: The Latest ESG Challenge For Corporate Governance

Posted by Michael W. Peregrine, McDermott Will & Emery LLP, on Tuesday, April 13, 2021

Tags: Compensation ratios, Corporate Social Responsibility, ESG, Human capital, Labor markets, Securities regulation, Stakeholders

Will Loyalty Shares Do Much for Corporate Short-Termism?

Posted by Mark Roe (Harvard Law School) and Federico Cenzi Venezze (Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP), on Tuesday, April 13, 2021

Tags: Capital formation, Capital structure, Institutional Investors, Investor horizons, Long-Term value, Shareholder activism, Short-termism

How Audit Committees Can Prepare for 2021 Q1 Reporting

Posted by Stephen Klemash and Jennifer Lee, EY, on Tuesday, April 13, 2021

Tags: Accounting, Audit committee, Audits, Disclosure, ESG, External auditors, Internal auditors, Risk management, Sustainability

SEC Focuses on Potential Updates to U.S. Climate Change Disclosure Requirements

Posted by Catherine M. Clarkin, Sarah H. Mishkin, and Samuel E. Saunders, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, on Wednesday, April 14, 2021

Tags: Climate change, Disclosure, Environmental disclosure, ESG, SEC, SEC rulemaking, Securities regulation, Sustainability

Illiberal Governance and the Rise of China’s Public Firms

Posted by Tami Groswald Ozery (Harvard Law School), on Wednesday, April 14, 2021

Tags: Alibaba, China, Foreign firms, Globalization, Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act, International governance, Legal systems, Public firms

Statement by Commissioner Peirce on the Staff ESG Risk Alert

Posted by Hester M. Peirce, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, on Wednesday, April 14, 2021

Tags: Disclosure, Environmental disclosure, ESG, Risk, Risk disclosure, SEC, Securities regulation

Moving Cautiously on ESG Incentives in Compensation

Posted by Deborah Beckmann, Blair Jones, and Avi Sheldon, Semler Brossy Consulting Group LLC, on Thursday, April 15, 2021

Tags: Accounting, Diversity, Environmental disclosure, ESG, Executive Compensation, Human capital, Incentives, Pay for performance, Performance measures, Sustainability

Five Facts About Beliefs and Portfolios

Posted by Stephen Utkus (The Wharton School), on Thursday, April 15, 2021

Tags: Decision making, Index funds, Institutional Investors, Investor horizons, Long-Term value, Macroeconomics, Market reaction, Short-termism, Surveys

Statement on Accounting and Reporting Considerations for Warrants Issued by SPACs

Posted by John Coates and Paul Munter, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, on Thursday, April 15, 2021

Tags: Capital formation, Disclosure, Financial reporting, Investor protection, Mergers & acquisitions, Regulation FD, SEC, Securities regulation, SPACs, Special purpose vehicles

Weekly Roundup: April 9–15, 2021