European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)’s Post

Our latest conversation is with Umakanth Varottil, Professor of Law at the National University of Singapore.    Tom Gosling interviews Umakanth Varottil on his co-authored paper with Dan W. Puchniak (Singapore Management University) ‘Climate-Related Shareholder Activism as Corporate Democracy: A Call to Reform “Acting in Concert” Rules’. The paper explores how existing "acting in concert" rules in corporate law impedes shareholder #ClimateActivism and calls for their reform. The key discussion points are: 💠 Acting in concert rules were designed to protect minority shareholders from coordinated attempts to take control of a company. 💠 These rules unintentionally hinder collective investor action on climate change, particularly regarding board changes, due to fears of triggering mandatory takeover offers. 💠 As a result, collective climate engagement remains limited, preventing shareholders from replacing boards that fail to address climate issues. 💠 Acting in concert rules should be reformed to distinguish between activism, which seeks change on specific issues, and attempts to gain control—the former should not trigger acting in concert rules. 💠 Proposals include using coordinating parties for investors to enable practical reform. 👉 Watch the full interview here: https://lnkd.in/gFqCXhdf   👉 Read the paper: https://lnkd.in/g-QRUu98   👉Visit our website to see the full collection of interviews: https://lnkd.in/gJrv8m7Q #ClimateChange #CorpGov #ESG

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