If anyone were in anyone doubt that the outsourcing sector is in big trouble, Friday saw Interserve’s precarious position finally resolved. The major shareholder – US hedge fund Coltrane Asset Management – voted against the proposed debt-for-equity swa…Read more…
Interserve & hedge funds
The ongoing battle at Interserve is grimly fascinating. The company’s biggest shareholder is hedge fund Coltrane Asset Management which is trying to scupper the board’s plans for a debt-for-equity swap. This would (obviously) be bad news for existing s…Read more…
Changing of the guard in corporate governance
I have been blogging a lot recently about employee representation on boards. This is partly because I’m an advocate of it, partly because no-one else seems to be tracking the issue properly and partly because I think the issue is part of a significant …Read more…
Wolfgang Streeck snippets
A couple of excerpts from How Will Capitalism End that resonates with me. The first has obvious application to Brexit (though this was written before it) though it also describes how I feel sometimes looking at ESG land.
[T]he arenas of distributi…Read more…
Ted Baker chief exec departure and workers on boards
I’m still tracking company announcements on if/how they are complying with the UK Corp Gov Code in respect of employee voice.
I’ve found two more choosing to designate an existing NED as employee representative. The first is the recruiter Hays, announ…Read more…
Tech bros and ‘win win’
Another couple of snippets from Winners Take All. This first quote is from a tech writer called Greg Ferenstein who interviewed lots of technology founders and tried to distil their ideas into a *cough* philosophy.
“The basis of old government is the n…Read more…
Winners Take All
This is a really interesting book (based on the first third, anyway) looking at philanthrocapitalism. It’s a long-overdue critique of the super-wealthy, such tech bros and venture capitalists who fund them, and their efforts to tackle social prob…Read more…
Stakeholder governance… in banks
Hat-tip to Responsible Investor for a fascinating news story about Dutch bank De Volksbank considering giving stakeholders such as employees and customers a vote at their AGM alongside shareholders. This is framed in terms of shift away from shareholde…Read more…
Asset managers and stakeholders
There’s a proliferation of comment pieces from asset managers lately seeking to demonstrate that they “get it” when it comes to lack of trust in business and finance. A lot of these simply re-tread the same ground, with more exhortations to more stewar…Read more…
Labour pains
I can’t find anything positive in the news that seven MPs have left Labour and will now stand against it. Although I disagree with the politics of most of the seven, if you believe that cognitive diversity has value you have to think that Labour becomi…Read more…
Asset managers and worker directors
The more I’ve been digging around for info on workers on boards, the more interesting things I find. For example, I had heard a rumour a while back that ATOS was thinking about appointing a UK employee director. And it turns out that they did. In fact …Read more…
Workers on boards round-up 2
As I’ve blogged quite a lot recently, I think the ground is shifting with regards to the UK corporate governance model. Specifically, the issue of employee and other stakeholder representation is being debated increasingly frequently.
Although there i…Read more…
Executive pensions & UK corp gov
Well over a decade ago, when I worked at the TUC, we started carrying out a survey of directors’ pensions entitlements in the FTSE100. This was because we were aware that many directors still had DB pensions when these schemes were being closed for sta…Read more…
Inequality, depression, unions
Today someone mentioned Angus Deaton and it reminded me of this interview with him in the FT which I always meant to blog about. It’s two years old now, and took place just after Trump’s victory, but there are several bits that really resonate with me….Read more…
George Orwell’s pay ratio
This, from The Lion and the Unicorn, popped into my head the other day:
II. Incomes. Limitation of incomes implies the fixing of a minimum wage, which implies a managed internal currency based simply on the amount of consumption-goods availab…Read more…
Shareholders vs Ryanair: Gone-derman
I think that’s called a win:Having agreed this group strategy as the best way to grow Ryanair, Sun, Lauda and other possible airline brands, Michael O’Leary has agreed a new 5 year contract as Group CEO, which secures his services for the group until a…Read more…
Shareholders vs Ryanair
Interesting snippet from the Investor Forum annual report:
"corporate governance zealots"
There’s a bit of a daft bit in the Sunday Times today from Patience Wheatcroft. It argues that “corporate governance zealots” will drive directors of PLCs towards private equity, where there is less hassle/scrutiny. The argument is that we don’t want t…Read more…
BlackRock short position in AA Plc
I find this weirdly fascinating. At 4.61% Blackrock’s short in AA Plc is by far its largest current short position. The second largest is half the size – 2.26% in Go-Ahead Group. And it’s been steadily heading up over the past year.
I think it’s Blac…Read more…
Stock-lending and shorting, again
I’ve been thinking a bit more about the potential conflicts of interest around stock-lending and shorting in light of the RD:IR paper I blogged about a couple of weeks back. It suggested that passive managers are in part able to offer lower fees becaus…Read more…